Awakening
by Da'har N'irr
Summary: Amara and Poe have been friends since they were young, when Poe goes off on a solo mission and she gets a bad feeling that she can't shake she goes looking for him, sending her into a whole universe of trouble. Meeting new people and making friends along the way. (Following film plot. Mostly adventure, little bit of romance.) (Editing in progress, chapter 1 - 4 edited, 5 - 9 not)
1. Chapter 1

Growing up my parents would tell me stories of the Jedi and the force, an energy that lives in and surrounds every living thing, wielded by the Jedi who used it to uphold order in the Galaxy and keep balance. But just as every light has a shadow, so did the Jedi. The Sith. Dark force wielders. Used their abilities for their own gain.

I was fascinated by the tales, but as I got older the legends became simply stories, I stopped believing in childhood fantasies because that is all they were. The Jedi were never real, just bedtime comforts for children growing up in hard times. Part of me still wants to believe, because what is life without hope? We all know the galaxy could use a little hope.

* * *

I curse as my hand slips off the tool I was using and I cut the palm of my hand on one of the engine parts of my X-Wing. I should be concentrating on what I'm doing not on the dogfight I had almost been shot down in. But when it comes to The First Order It's personal. I hold in most of the pain by squeezing my wrist and grunting and growling slightly as I try not to swear or kick the toolbox next to me in frustration.

I have a sensory processing disorder so I do not feel physical pain as much as other people. Which is quite useful in my line of work. I'm a pilot, trained by the best, but I'm no where near the best pilot in the Resistance, not even a title I would want it'd be too much pressure. I already have enough of that trying to live up to my parents and sister's reputations.

Once the initial pain and shock wears off I wipe the oil off my right hand on my half down flightsuit. I get the clean cloth from my pocket that I would have used to wipe the oil off my hands, and wrap my wound to stop the bleeding until I get to the infirmary. As I'm using my right hand and my teeth to tie off the makeshift bandage I spot Poe standing over by his ship looking like he and BB8 are getting ready to go somewhere even though he's not in his flight suit. I start to make my way towards him.

"Hey, flyboy! Thought you'd leave without saying goodbye?" I call over playfully as he's about to climb the ladders into his ship. He stops and turns to look at me holding his hand up to block out the rising sun so he can see me, he smiles before jumping off the ladders.

BB8 bleeps saying they're not going to be long and telling me not to worry.

"We'll be back before you know it" Poe adds smiling, squinting a little to keep the sun out of his eyes.

"You going to tell me where you're going?" I ask curiously as I walk around the ship's nose and lean on the side crossing my arms. So that I've not got the hot sun on my back. He moves so that the X-Wing is blocking the sun from shining on his face and he's smiling until he notices the bandage on my hand causing his expression to change to one of concern.

"That depends, are you going to tell me what happened to your hand?" He asks pointing to my left hand which is resting on my right arm.

"Oh, that..." I say moving my hand to look at the bandaged palm, I'd almost forgotten about it since I can't feel the pain anymore. Knowing he won't answer my question unless I answer his I'm forthcoming about it.

"I wasn't concentrating as I was working on my ship, my hand slipped and I scratched myself" I say dismissively

"Let me see" he says moving closer and motioning with his hand for me to give him mine. He knows about my sensory processing disorder and what I call a scratch he would likely call a gaping wound.

Too tired to argue after being up all night I reluctantly lean off the x wing and hold out my hand and he gently starts to unwrap the bandage.

"So, are you going to tell me where you're going?" I ask as I look at him, not at my hand.

"A planet called Jakku, a settlement called Tuanul. The General has asked me to go" he replies looking up at me for a moment as he unwraps the last layer of fabric before looking at the wound.

"You need to get your hand looked at by a doctor" he states simply looking at the wound that's still bleeding.

"Errand boy now?" I tease ignoring his comment.

"You hear me?" He asks giving me a serious look as he starts to retie the bandage tighter than I previously had it. I sigh and nod, as much as my SPD is useful I'm never aware of how bad my wounds are, pain is what indicates how bad something is and I never realise because I lack that neural sense. It makes me feel like a burden.

"Must be really important if she's asking you to go" I say also on serious note.

"I'm going to find a map that may lead to her brother. Apparently the First Order are also looking for it, I need to find it first"

"People still believe he can help us? He's not been seen for at least twenty years, how do we know he's even alive?" I ask. I look around as I realise something. No one else is suiting up to go with him. "You're going alone?" I ask not in the least bit alright with this idea.

He simply nods in response to which I frown. The situation is too much like how I lost my sister. She was a Resistance Pilot. One of the best, her and Poe were unbeatable in an X-Wing, but she was captured and killed by The First Order when I was fifteen. It's been seven years since, she was only twenty five. After she was killed by The First Order while chasing a rumour of Luke I stopped believing that someone who was supposed to be the last Jedi could help us. The Jedi and Sith are just made up as much as I want to believe in a mystical power, I don't. My sister did and it got her killed.

"Don't look so worried, I'll be gone a few hours at most" he says trying to reassure me.

"I'm coming with you" I state.

He shakes his head "The General needs you here" he says placing his hands on my shoulders "I need you here" he adds. I pull a face and reluctantly agree. "Less chance of being detected if there are any First Order in the area" he adds

I can't deny that it's true. But I don't like it.

"Fine, but if you're not back in a few hours I'm coming to get you" I say simply. He chuckles and nods. If he thinks I am joking I am not.

"I don't doubt that for a second" he says amused

"You..." I say pointing at him "Be careful..." I poke him in the chest lightly "don't make me come after you..." I say worried about him.

"You..." He says imitating me "Get your hand sorted" he says poking my nose I bat his hand away playfully, with my good hand amused and cheered up a little by the action. "and stop worrying about me, I know what I'm doing" he says confidently.

"You always do, and you always get in trouble" we both chuckle at my comment until we fall silent, but it's not an awkward silence, it's one of agreement and understanding. Nothing else is said until BB8 interrupts the silence reminding Poe that they have to go.

"Be careful" I say as I start to move backwards. He grins before climbing into his cockpit. "BB8" I call. He looks at me and beeps curiously. "Take care of him for me" he beeps reassuringly and I smile and nod.

I stand far enough back as a technician removes the ladders from the X-Wing before Poe closes his cockpit and lifts off from the ground, looking at me and giving me a thumbs up before flying into the atmosphere. I watch until I can't see him before looking at the ground worried about him.

As I agreed, I go to the infirmary to get my hand looked at.

"Amara, what brings you here?" Asks James, he's one of a few doctors who know about my condition. He's also a friend. He looks at me curiously and I hold up my bandaged hand as explanation.

"I see, come on, sit yourself down" He says moving over to a bed and motioning for me to follow.

I sit down on the edge of the bed and my hand is injected with aesthetic before being stitched up, unfortunately here on our little base we do not have access to a lot of the advanced healing technology so I have to have stitches. The closed wound is then smothered in ointment and a bandage in the form of an elasticated fingerless glove.

"Now make sure you don't do anything to strenuous with that hand for a few days, otherwise you may split the stitches and need to come back to get them re-sewn" James explains.

"Thank you Dr Vega" I say playfully, knowing he dislikes me calling him that. He looks at me half amused noticing my cheeky facial expression.

"Go on, get outta' here Lola" He says smiling. Lola is his nickname for me, he always gives people a new name, I guess it's his way of remembering people.

"Thanks James" I say smiling and standing up and trying to move my numb hand, only the finger tips move.

I return to my quarters and sit on my bed to read a book. I'll get back to my ship to finish fixing it up after the aesthetic wears off but for now I'll relax.

I ended up falling asleep as I was reading, after not sleeping all night it's no surprise really.  
But what I can't rationalise is why I wake up with a bad feeling as though I have just had a nightmare without the nightmare, a lump forms in my throat as I think of Poe as the feeling of danger increases. I sit up on my bed and continue reading where I left off as I try to ignore this feeling. Unable to shake it after a while I get a drink of water to see if that would help. But then I get a scary thought, an hour before I was told my sister was killed I had the same feeling. I put the glass down and grab my jacket as I leave my room quickly, pulling it on as I head to the command centre in the hopes of finding General Organa. I see her talking to my parents in the corner of the room. Could this just be a silly worry I'm having, or a bad reaction to the anaesthetic? Should I really bother her with it? I stand there contemplating what I should do and I decide to ask for permission to go after Poe.

"I need you to go to Hosnian Prime and talk to the senate on my behalf-" She's saying to my parents. My father, A former Rebel pilot who helped in the battles of both Death Stars. And my mother, also a former Rebel pilot who helped destroy the first Death Star but mostly known for being a brilliant engineer who helped General Organa and General Solo in the battle of Endor. Now they're diplomats In The New Republic on behalf of the Resistance.

"General?" The trio stop talking and look at me. I feel out of place surrounded by officers, no matter our relations. I'm only a captain but I'm sure that's only because of who my parent's are and because Leia is like another mother to me. "I'm sorry to interrupt" I say wondering how to word what I'm about to ask. "I believe that Poe may be in trouble, I would like your permission to go after him?" I ask. It's no secret that Poe and I are close, we have been since my sister introduced me to him when I was ten the tree of us were inseparable.

"What has made you think that Poe is in danger?" She asks curiously

"I'm not sure, I've just... Got a bad feeling about it that I can not get rid of" I say honestly

"We have no reason to believe that he is in any danger, I can't send you after him on a feeling you've got, I am sorry Amara" Leia says looking at me apologetically

I had the same feeling when..." I look at my parents "When Anna died..."

Marie and Malcom look at each other unsure what to make of it.

"Amara, that is probably why you feel worried, because you don't want to loose him like we lost Anna" My mother says softly "He will be back shortly, you don't need to worry"

I nod, I didn't think that they would understand, but seeing how I wasn't ordered to stay... I'm going to go anyway, with or without permission.  
I head to my ship and climb in, I start up my engine before strapping in and shoving my helmet on. I do a few quick pre flight checks and look up as I notice a few people waving their arms at me.

"Captain Harding, you are not clear for take off, please disengage engines" I hear in my coms from the air traffic controller. I don;t reply so they say again "Captain Harding, disengage engines, I repeat, disengage engines" I turn off my communicator and take off from the ground before even closing the cockpit. I'll no doubt be court marshalled when I return, because of this unsanctioned departure but right now I don't care. All I care about at the moment is my friend. I close the cockpit and fly to the upper atmosphere. As soon as I'm clear of the planet I jump into light speed.

I have never done anything like this before so I can feel myself shaking nervously, but I felt that it was necessary, a feeling in my gut that this is the right thing to do. I mentally berate myself as I contemplate contacting base. I eventually decide to contact the base to let them know my status and it's the General who answers.

"Amara-"

"I know what you're going to say" I say cutting her off "I'm not coming back, not yet. I'm sorry"

"Amara. What are you thinking? This is not like you. Come back to base." She says sounding concerned.

I shake my head regretting contacting the base, I'm not even sure why I did it.

"I'm almost at Jakku, I know I left without permission but you know I would not do it without good reason. I can't explain it, but I need to do this" I say as I press a few buttons before dropping out of light speed.

I swear as I see a large Star Destroyer in front of me. I dropped out barely able to pull away before I hit it. I quickly head for the planet as I get a locked on message popping up on my display. I see a small explosion go off closer to the planet and something go smoking through the atmosphere of the planet. A ship? Poe?

"Amara what's going on?" Leia asks sounding even more concerned.

"The First Order!" I say as I see they've opened fire at me. I curse again and head towards the planet. I can hear the general in my ear but I don't respond, the missiles are getting closer and thankfully I'm able to out manoeuvre them for the most part as I descend towards the planet, but they are gaining on me.

I swear as warning sounds go off because of all the manoeuvring and I feel my engine give up on me.

"No! No! No! Not now!"

As I enter the planets atmosphere I spot a fire in my left upper engine which is got damaged in my last dogfight with the First Order. I thought I had fixed that damn thing, and now it seems it'll be the death of me.

My wings break off and thankfully the missiles hit the wing debris, now I'm just spiralling towards the ground. There's nothing I can do but hope I survive the impact. The last thing I see is the sand swirling in front of me as I'm spinning towards the ground, the last thing I hear is the general calling my name as warning alarms are going off. And then. Silence...

* * *

For anyone who is interested I have uploaded a work in progress digital image of of Amara Harding if anyone is curious to see how I have tried to describe her. Please note, It's not finished so it's not too great at the moment. ashtheoutcast .deviantart art/Captain-Amara-Harding-Work-in-Progress-621483849

Just remove the spaces and it should take you to it. Thank you! I hope you enjoy this Fic! Please comment and let me know what you think.


	2. Chapter 2

The first thing I feel is pain in my head and my hand as I start to become aware of my surroundings, the next is the heat. In my throat it feels as though there is a lump and my mouth is parched. I cough as I open my eyes, inhaling my lungs full of smoke.  
/I look up waving my hands to disperse the smogand notice the bloody bandage, I must have split the stitching in the crash, then I notice the nose of my fighter is ploughed into the sand up to the cockpit glass. I press a button to open the cockpit  
/but it doesn't work, still coughing from the smoke I try again with the same result so I un-clip my harness and start to climb out of the cockpit, pushing on the glass with my entire arm and my shoulder.

I would have burned had I not been wearing my jacket. Once my feet are firmly on the ground, as firm as you can get with soft sand underfoot, I take my helmet off and dump it on the floor, there's a slight dent in my helmet and my head is throbbing, must  
/have hit my head in the crash. I focus on breathing the smoke out of my lungs as I look around to see any signs of life in what looks like a barren desert. Where am I? How did I end up here? I wonder as I try to think about what happened finding  
I'm

/unable to remember. But then on the horizon, not too far away, a large outcropping of rocks with what looks like structures atop them and... Smoke?

I make my way over to the structures and to my relief it is a settlement, but there are no people, I see a tap that's dripping water and move over to it turning it on and automatically drinking from it and splashing some over my face to cool down.

After refreshing myself I move further into the settlement. It looks as though whatever they were doing they just stopped. I can smell a horrible stench of something burning and as I get closer I see why.

There are bodies... Blackened... Burning... Then I see more dead bodies, women, elderly, even children, though some villagers had weapons others were unarmed. All are dead. Who could have done this? I pick up a blaster just in case any hostiles are  
/still in the area.

As I move closer to the centre of the settlement I notice bodies with the unmistakeable black and white armour of a stormtroopers. The defenders of this place put up a good fight. But then as I get to the centre I see what looks like all the rest of the  
/villagers, it looks as though they were surrounded and then butchered. I hang my head regretting that there was nothing I could do. The First Order must be stopped before any more innocents are murdered.

I look around to see if there is anything I can use to get out of this place, if not a ship a vehicle of some sort so I can go and find a ship in another settlement, assuming there is another settlement on this planet. As I'm walking around the settlement  
/checking every piece of technology I see wondering if it works I come across an advanced blaster, more advanced than anything else in this place I pick it up and look at it looks like it'll still works. I put down the blaster I picked up earlier  
and

/sling this one over my back with the strap that is attached to it before looking around for a vehicle again.

I notice what looks like an X-Wing on the outskirts of the settlement and I jog over to it slowing down as I noticed it's badly damaged and still smoking. I then realise that this ship and the blaster must be Poe's. That's what I was doing, I was looking  
/for him, I was shot down by the first order. I check the cockpit, no one, thankfully, so I turn around and start calling for him hoping he can hear me if he's nearby. I go back to where I found the blaster and look around there, when that failed  
I

/check in every building and every body, I pause on one body, an elder who looks familiar, he wasn't killed by blaster or fire like other villagers, but... blade... The wound looks like it instantly cauterised. I reluctantly stand up from the face  
/I recognise but can not place and I start to look for Poe again, or at least his body.

Thankfully I don't find him among the dead. I can only hope he and BB8 got away safely. However, I did find a modified speeder. I check that it works and I'm eternally thankful when it does. I grab a bag and some water canisters that I have found, filling  
/them up from the tap I used when I first arrived and putting them in the bag with some food. I don't know how long it'll take to find another village after-all. I look out at the empty desert wondering which way to go. I look up to see which direction  
/the sun is moving, it's not even mid day yet, I decide to head the same way as the sun. With one last look back at the village the elder still on my mind, I set off with the hot sun at my back. Who was he? Why do I feel I know him? And... what sort  
/of weapon could do that? There's nothing but sand and salt flats for miles with the occasional marker, which I hope means I am heading the right way.

I stop to get a drink while still sitting on the speeder. The sun is now high in the sky and the heat is intense, causing me to stop to drink every so often. If I don't find a settlement soon I may end up dying out here. I put the canister of water away  
/and set off again in the same direction as before, it would be silly to change course now.

I stop and look with disbelieving eyes at an arch in the distance with what looks like ships and speeders parked around the gate. I can slightly make out the shape of tents and movement, so without further hesitation I put my foot down and head straight  
/for it. To my relief it's not a mirage.

I park the speeder near the gates and dismount, keeping my bag slung over my right shoulder crossing my body. And blaster on my left shoulder slung over to my right, keeping it ready just in case these people are hostile, but as I walk around looking  
/for someone to ask about a ship, all I see are scavengers, this is a scavenger town? Either way someone will be in charge. I wander around until I hear something out of place here, beeping, like a droid. I look around curiously as I hear commotion  
mand spot a spherical orange and

/white droid speeding after a running woman who is chasing a man.

"BB8?" I say confused.

Before my brain has time to register what just happened I start running to catch up with the astromech.


	3. Chapter 3

I race after the droid as he chases a woman who is chasing a man that is raising the ire of more than several merchants in his mad dash to get away from the local woman pursuing him. He ducks into a tent but he's cut off as she enters the other side.  
Neither come out and BB8 enters the tent.

I enter the tent catching up to the faster-than-he-looks droid and I see the man on the floor and the woman holding up her staff threateningly at him.

She is wearing lightweight breathable fabric that offers protection from the sand and easy manoeuvrability.

Where she looks very agile he looks more bulky and built for strength.

He is wearing a matching thick black shirt and trousers with white boots that look like Stormtrooper footwear, with a leather jacket that looks oddly firmiliar. I raise an eyebrow curiously but don't think too much of it. This is a scavenger town after  
all.

I'm surprised at the little robot when he gives the man a sharp electric shock to the leg.

"Ow! Hey! What?" He says in pain and sounding confused.

"BB8?" I say causing the three of them to look at me, the woman turns slightly, defensively but BB8 beeps happy to see me so she relaxes and focuses on her runner.

"What's going on here?" I ask looking between the man and the woman. BB8 beeps again.

"The jacket, this droid says you stole it" The woman says to the man. I look at him not sure what is going on. All this over his jacket?

"I've had a pretty messed up day alright, so I would appreciate it if you would stop accusing me-" he says annoyed but seemingly trying to be polite.

"Ow! Stop it!" the man shouts at the droid who shocks him again.

"Where did you get it? It belongs to his master" she states.

He looks at the droid and sighs.

"It belonged to Poe Dameron, that was his name right?"

I tense and freeze at the mention of Poe and I hope that he's alright, if this man knows him, where is he? Who is he? And how does he know Poe? BB8's head looked between the three of us.

"He was captured, by The First Order, I helped him to escape, but our ship crashed" The First Order? I knew something wasn't right, I knew it, but no one believed me.

"Where is he?" I ask not sure I want to know the answer.

He looks at me and the droid apologetically before continuing "Poe didn't make it"

BB8 whines and his head droops slightly. I shake my head as a wave of unease washes over me. No, I can't loose him too, not like I lost my sister.

"He can't be dead..." I say not wanting to believe it.

"I tried to help him I'm sorry" he says regretfully.

BB8 rolls away. To make sure he doesn't go too far I follow him.

"He's not dead BB8, I refuse to believe it" I say simply, it's the only thing keeping me together at this point, not believing it. If he is dead... I don't want to think about it until I get back to base... BB8 starts beeping erraticly shouting about  
the First Order and racing back into the tent. I look straight ahead and see what he saw, Stormtroopers have just landed I turn to run to join BB8 but I'm joined by BB8 followed by the two civilians.

A few locals point at us and the stormtroopers start shooting while running towards us.

"Run" I say at the same time the man says "Come on"

"What are you doing?" I turn to see the man has grabbed the woman's hand

"Run, go!" I say and start shooting back at the troopers as the two start running.

"Come on BB8" the woman shouts. The troopers take cover and I turn and run after the droid. Explosions go off behind us as we are narrowly missed by the bolts. I get scraped in the arm by a blast my jacket taking the most of the damage.

"Come on we've gotta' move" The man says not looking back

"I know how to run without you holding my hand" She says and yanks her hand from his grip.

"Good run faster, both of you" I shout as I catch up to them.

"BB8 stay close" She says before suddenly turning "This way" she leads us into a tent where we take cover. I stay close to the door flap keeping an eye out for the troopers, I can't remember why but I know the bucket heads don't like me or those I associate  
with.

"They're shooting at all of us" I feel my head throbbing painfully and I can't focus on anything other than that and my wounds. I close my eyes hissing a little at my hand which is causing the most bother.

"Dosen't anyone have blasters around here?!" I hear the man yell, as I refocus. I look at them curiously, since they've seen us all together it's not safe for them to stay anymore.

"They're not following us" I say looking outside wondering what they're up to since it seems like they've stopped following us.

"We've got to get away from here" I state "they've probably sent word back to their command ship, they may have reinforcements on the way"

"Are you okay?" I hear her ask, I turn around and notice she's talking to BB8, he shakes his head beeping and then the man moves over to them.

"Shh" he says listening.

There's a slight whirring sound getting closer.

"Or an air strike..." I say sarcastically knowing what I'm hearing. "Time to go!" I say feeling like this is calm compared to my usual days.

"Stop taking my hand" the woman complains as the man again grabs her hand and drags her out of the tent. We get blown forward as the tent we were in explodes behind us. TIE Fighters swoop overhead and I watch as they circle back around and I grumble painfully.

"Everyone okay?" I ask as I lie on my back "It'd be nice not to get shot at for once" I say to myself.. My ears are ringing from the explosion so I don't hear any replies, as I start to get up my ears pop and I can hear what's going on

"Follow me" I hear the woman say as she helps up the man before starting to run, he then helps me up and we rush after the woman, BB8 close behind us.

Sand explodes covering us in hot showers of dust, I wince as the hot grains land all over me as the blasts almost hit me as they fly overhead again.

"Come on BB8" I call looking back at the droid as we run to where the ships and speeders are parked.

"we can't outrun them!" the man says.

"We might, in that quad jumper" she says pointing to a small ship with four engines. It's the best plan we've got at the moment, the four of us would t for on the speeder I arrived on.

"We need a pilot!"

"We've got one" she says meaning herself.

"You" he says surprised

"What about that ship?" He says pointing to a much larger ship off to the side. I don't look? I concentrate on running straight ahead.

"That one's garbage" she replies.

We abruptly stop as the ship we were heading for gets blown up

"We don't have a choice!" I say stating the obvious

"The Garbage will do" We turn and run to an old ship that looks badly aged and not very well looked after. Tarps are covering most parts of the ship and draped over it, but it still looks like a rust bucket. Despite that, it's our only option now.

We run aboard and she tells us where the guns are, once on-board this seems oddly familiar. I press a few buttons on a control panel by the door and the ramp starts lifting then I press another button and the door shuts.

Noticing the lower gun is occupied I climb up the ladders to the upper cannon. I get into the seat and look up, looks like there are only two TIE fighters, perhaps we're not too unlucky.

"You ever fly this thing?" I hear him call from his lower cannon. asks

"No, this ship hasn't flown in years" she calls back

"How do you know it will fly?" I ask as we take off on a bumpy start.

"I know" she calls back simply.

We bank right and slide along the ground on the ship's edge.

"How much pilot training have you had?" I ask just as we break through the arch

"None" She shouts back

"What?!"I say concerned for our lives "how are you a pilot then?" I ask feeling like I should have flown this hunk of junk. We start to fly into the atmosphere.

"Wait, hold on, stay low" I hear him shout

"What?" She shouts back

"Stay low, It confuses their tracking"

"BB8 Hold on, I'm going low" she calls to the droid.

"We're going to die..." I mumble to myself as I realise my cannon isn't starting up.

"Great..." I mumble as I try to get the gun working but it doesn't seem to be powered. All the switches are on but the weapon is none functional.

"My controls aren't working" I say still trying to get it started up. I curse under my breath "I'm coming to the cockpit" I say and get out of my seat, I can be more use there than in a broken turret if this woman who has had no flying experience is in  
control of the ship.

I slide down the ladders and start making my way to the cockpit. We loop around causing me to loose my footing and then slide around the hallway bashing against the walls a little. It might be fun if a more experienced pilot was at the helm. I get back  
to my feet when the ship levels out just to get knocked off them again as a blast hits the hull of the ship.

"What are you doing back there? Are you ever going to fire back?" She calls to the gunner.

"I'm working on it, are the shields up?"

"Not so easy without a co pilot"

I get up and quickly get to the cockpit and put the shields up before sitting in the seat.

"Shields up" I say as we're hit again, this time the impact is not as bad thanks to the shields, but it still shakes us around a bit.

I press several buttons, re routing power to shields from all un-essential sources and angling deflectors.

"We need cover, quick" I hear over the coms.

"We're about to get some" She replies to the gunner "I hope" I give her a look and she glances at me.

"You're not serious are you?" I ask as I look straight ahead to the wreckage of a star destroyer She manoeuvres through the debris, hitting the occasional bit of rubble.

"Turn, turn, turn, TURN!" I say seeing us heading straight for a wall of scrap metal.

"Nice shot" she shouts to the gunner who's just taken down one of the TIE's that rolls along the sand.

We keep weaving in and out of the debris, making it harder for the remaining fighter to get a lock on us. We get hit again causing a few sparks from one of the panels.

"The cannon is stuck in forward position I can't move it you're gonna' have to loose them" comes the worried response from the gunner.

"Get ready" she says looking like she's contemplating something silly.

"You're not seriously considering-"

"Okay. For what?" The gunner asks unable to see what she's planning.

We go inside one of the engines of the downed starship.

"Are we really doing this?" He asks as we go down a narrow tunnel with little room to move.

"They've almost got a lock" I state trying not to look out of the window so I can't see how narrow the passage is getting. We bump around on the sides a little bit, today has turned out to be one hell of a day, if we survive this I am never getting in  
a ship this large again unless I'm piloting it.

I look up as I hear her say "Oh no" I can't help but stare at the small passage we're flying directly towards. There's some light shining in from the side of the wreck and she pulls out, but so does the fighter who keeps shooting at us. Suddenly she cuts  
all power, the ship teeters forward giving the gunner a good angle to shoot from, taking the opportunity he shoots down the TIE.

The pilot pushes the throttle to full and we pull up almost hitting the ground.

"Woah!" The gunner shouts in joyful surprise.

"Okay, I'll admit, that was some great flying" I say feeling quite relieved that we're not dead or captives. "You really know how to manoeuvre in tight spaces" I say impressed

"I've walked those passageways all my life, I know them like the back of my hand" she says smiling "but I wasn't so sure we'd actually be able to pull it off" she says excitedly.

"Okay, things like that last part are better kept to yourself" I say in a friendly way while smiling "I think I'll take over from here?" I half ask. She seems too excited to concentrate on flying right now.

She nods and gets up as she hears the gunner cheering as he's getting closer. I sit in the pilots seat and take us out of the planet's atmosphere.


	4. Chapter 4

I make our way away from the planet and the First Order starship that's orbiting the desert world. Keeping the power low so they shouldn't detect us on scanners.

"Nice shooting" I hear the woman say from the hallway to which the gunner replies.

"That was some flying"

"Thanks"

"How did you do that?"

"I don't know"

"No one trained you.."

"I've worked on ships but I've never left the planet"

"That was amazing"

I hear them both talking excitedly. I chuckle a little, I can understand their excitement but I don't share it. I'm in too much pain, my best friend since childhood is dead. I could care less about the blaster burn on my arm, while I can feel it, the  
pain of loosing a friend is worse.

I hear a loud metal clunk and what sounds like gas spewing out of a tight space as an alarm starts to go off.

"Help me with this quick" I hear her say

"What's going on?" He asks.

"What was that?" I call In to them wondering what's happening. After a few moments of no response I put the ship into auto pilot and get up to find out what's going on.

The man is on the floor facing BB8 with his back to me when I stand in the door way.

"-I'm just trying to get away from The First Order, but you tell me where your base is and I'll get you there first, deal?" he asks, I can just make it out over the sound of the gas.

BB8 tilts his head to look at me.

"Droid please!"

The woman pops up from down a hatch and asks for a tool

"So where's your base?" She asks not noticing me.

"Go on BB8 tell her" The man says

It sounds like he wheezes a little bit but in BB8's camera I see him mouth something.

BB8 looks at me standing behind the man and I nod, I can't remember where it is, it's making me wonder what else I have forgotten and it's not a pleasant feeling.

BB8 tells her where the base is and as if it was on the tip of my tongue I remember as she says it.

"The Ileenium System"

"Yeah, the Ileenium system that's the one" he says throwing a tool to her before sticking his thumb up to BB8 who pulls out his welder trying to imitate the gesture "Get us there as fast as you can"

This strikes me as odd, he's not resistance, that much is obvious. I'm guessing that is why he had to beg BB8 to tell her. The mouth motion makes sense now, he was pleading. I decide to watch them both to see what else I can find out about them. I find  
it easier to get to know someone by watching them, how they hold theirselves and interact with others.

"I'll drop you three at Paneema Terminal. I need the bonding tape, hurry" she says simply.

"What about you?" He asks.

"I've got to get back to Jakku"

"Back to Jak- Why does everyone want to get back to Jakku? That place is..." He doesn't get chance to finish his sentence because he picks up a roll of tape causing her to say

"It's not that one"

He picks up another roll of tape

"No"

Another

"No. The one I'm pointing to"

He reaches for every roll of tape scattered around the floor with her annoyed responses of no each time.

"If we don't patch this up the propulsion tap will overflow and flood the ship with poisonous gas" BB8 shows him the right one.

"This?"

It looks like everything is under control, more or less, so I go back to the cockpit and just look out at the stars leaving the ship on autopilot.

The lights go off and the backup lights switch on illuminating the ship in a red glow.

"What did you do?" I call in to them as I press buttons trying to figure out what's happened. Then I realise and press more buttons to try and regain control of the ship, I curse, nothing works. The three of them come to find out what's happened.

"Someone has locked onto us, all controls are overridden. I can't do anything to get us free."

There's a loud sound above as though something unclamped. The man stands up on the co pilot's chair trying to look out of the window to see what's going on.

"See anything?" Rey asks

"Oh no..." he says sounding worried.

"What do you see?" I ask looking up.

"It's the First Order" He says sitting down on a seat.

We're being pulled inside a large ship that closes around us stopping our escape.

"What do we do? There must be something" she says looking concerned.

"We have a blaster..." I suggest shrugging

"You said poisonous gas..." He says to the woman.

"I fixed that"

"Can you un fix it?" He asks. She seems to cotton on to what he's saying and they get up and head back to the hatch, I follow them not really sure what's just been decided, grabbing my rifle as I head after them. They grab gas masks so I do the same.  
I realise what they're doing as they throw their's into the hatch. I look into the small enclosed compartment and realise.

"There's not enough room for all of us in there" I point out. This means one of us will have to take on the Stormtroopers and since I have the only weapon and the other two are civilians I'm the only logical one to defend us.

"You three get below" I say simply without hesitation.

"What?" the man asks as the droid also protests.

"Don't argue, if I don't survive this, you make sure you get BB8 to the base" I say to Finn, he did promise the droid that he would.

He looks worried but nods and jumps down the hatch.

"Who are you?" She asks suddenly looking concerned about me.

"Amara. I'm a Pilot with the Resistance" I reply. "And you?" I ask, can't keep mentally referring to them by their gender after all.

"I'm Rey, and I'm sure you know Finn, he's resistance too" she says smiling.

I smile at her and look at Finn curiously. He is resistance? I thought he was just a scavenger. So why is he wearing Stormtrooper boots? No time to ask now. If we survive, then I'll ask.

"Get down there and stay quiet" I say politely. I put my gas mask on as Rey passes BB8 to Finn who collapses under the weight of the small but very heavy droid before Rey jumps down.

Power comes back on and I help them put the grate over them before hiding.

I see Finn pop his head back up and motion for him to get back down. He does, just as the door is about to open. I stay hiding around one of the hallways. I'm not going to jump out unless I have to, no need to get myself killed too soon.

I hear people board and there's a short silence until I hear a recognisable voice.

"Chewie, we're home" which doesn't sound like a Stormtrooper. Then I hear a wookie.

I peak around the corner and see a grey haired older man and a big hairy wookie. The big furry creature is walking in my direction but stops as a sound comes from below. I look at the hatch and mentally curse, I told them to be quiet. They walk over to  
the hatch and the wookie pulls the heavy grate off with ease.

I step out from where I'm hiding and point my riffle at them.

"Drop your weapons"I say from behind them. Much too close than I would like to be to a Wookie. It turns around back handing me and knocking me to the floor taking my riffle off me before picking me up and throwing me near the other two, then it looks  
at me curiously, so does the elder man.

"Where's the others? Where's the pilot?" He asks.

"We're the pilots," she said pointing between the two of us "Her and I"

"You?" he says in disbelief looking at the both of us.

The wookie becomes vocal and she seems to understand it.

"No, it's true we're the only ones on board"

"You can understand that thing?"

"And that thing can understand you too so watch it, come on outta' there."

They climb out quickly, taking their masks off. I stay on the floor still dazed by the giant hairy back hander.

"Where'd you get this ship?" He asks

"Nima outpost" Rey replies.

"Jakku, that junkyard?" The man sounds surprised

"Thank you, junkyard" Finn says as if continuing a conversation from while I wasn't there.

"I told you we should have double checked the western reaches" he says to his companion "Who had it? Ducain?" He asks turning back to us.

"We stole it. From Unclar Plutt. Who stole it from the Urving Boys who stole it from Ducain" Rey replies.

"Who stole it from me. Well you tell him from me that Han Solo just stole back the Millenium Falcon for good" the man says walking towards the cockpit.

"This is the Millenium Falcon? You're Han Solo?" Rey sounds star struck.

"I used to be" he says sounding regretful

"Han Solo? The Rebelliion General?" Finn asks

"No, The Smuggler" Rey says matter of factly

"Wasn't he a War Hero?"

"I heard they were the same person" I add from on the floor as I start to get up. Finn helps me to stand asking if I'm alright. I nod a thank you to him.

"This is the ship that made the Kessel Run is fourteen parsecs"

"Twelve!" Han says from down another corridor. At the same time I mumble it. I've heard it before, I'm not sure where. Both Finn and Rey look at me curiously.

The Wookie hands me my weapon back while saying something I don't understand.

"I'm guessing you were being gentile?" I ask as I take my rifle with one hand, holding my face with the other.

He sounds like he chuckles a little and looks amused.

"Hey" comes an angry voice from the cockpit. Han walks back to us looking unimpressed.

"Some moof-milker put a compressor on the ignition line!" He says.

"Unkar Plutt did. I thought it was a mistake too, puts too much"stress on the hyperdrive" Rey and Han say overlapping each other. I look at her and him curiously who look at each other a mix of confusion from Han and admiration from Rey.

"Chewie, throw 'em in a pod, we'll drop them at the nearest inhabited planet."

"Wait! No - we need your help!" She starts and we follow him.

"My help?"

"This droid has to get to the Resistance base as soon as possible!" Ray states

"He's carrying a map to Luke Skywalker." Finn says.

I look at him surprised, if he's not resistance who is he to know that? Now I know he's not a civilian or a scavenger. But what? Could he be... A Stormtrooper? I look at Finn scrutinising him.

Han stops in his tracks.

"You are the Han Solo that fought with the Rebellion. You knew him."

I look at Han surprised. The General's husband? Somehow I'm sure I already knew that now that I think about it.

"Yeah, I knew him. I knew Luke."

"I know you too, what are you doing out here?" He asks me.

"I'd like to know that myself. I crash landed on Jakku and hit my head, my memory is fuzzy at best" I admit.

He looks at me a little curious but also what looks like concern?

There's a metallic clunk from outside which echoes through the ship.

"Don't tell me a Rathtar's gotten loose" he says hurrying to the door.

"Wait... A what?! Did you just say Rathtar? Hey!" Finn asks sounding very concerned As we rush after him, exiting The Falcon into a giant freighter's hangar. Han moves to a control panel and we all follow him.

"Please tell me you're not serious?" I ask also worried, I know what a Rathtar is and it is a thing of nightmares.

"You're not hauling Rathtars on this freighter, are you?" Finn asks

"I'm hauling Rathtars." Han replies

"Rathtars? Plural? Not just one which is a bad idea to begin with" I ask.

He watches the control panel for the source of the sound. It's a ship docking with this one.

"Oh great. It's the Guavian Death Gang... They must've tracked us from Nantoon" Han says not too pleased

"What's a Rathtar?" Rey asks as Han leads us down a long narrow hallway lined with cargo containers.

"They're big and dangerous..." Han says simply.

"You ever heard of the Trillia Massacre?!" Finn asks Rey

"No." She replies

"Good." Is all Finn says

"They're big, ugly creatures with tentacles and a lot of teeth, they kill anything they see. They're fast because of their ball like shape and deadly, if you ever see one run, and hide it the smallest, most secure space you can find and close the door."  
I say giving her a straight answer.

"I got three of 'em going to King Prana. He want's them for his menagerie. No one has even one Rathtar so he wants three" Han explains.

I look at him like he's insane

"THREE?! How'd you get them on board?" Finn asks

"Used to have a bigger crew."

Chewie groans, agreeing.

Han stops at a service hatch in the floor and Chewie opens it.

"Get below deck and stay there until I say so. Don't even think about taking the Falcon." He says warningly.

"What about BB-8?" Rey asks

"He stays with me until I get rid of the gang, then you can have him back and be on your way."

"You mean he's an insurance policy so we don't take The Falcon" I say somehow knowing his game.

He grins at me amused I'm guessing that means I am right.

"What about the Rathtars... where are you keeping them?" Finn asks.

A loud, heavy thud sounds behind us and we jump away as we turn, Rey screams and my heart stops for a moment even BB8 backs up from the wall that was pounded as we instinctively turn to look at. A window behind Finn, with a Rathtar licking the glass with  
its sucker-like tongue is what we're faced with.

"There's one." Han points

"I really dislike you right now" I say still looking at the creature but directing my words to Han.

"What are you gonna do?" Rey asks

"Same thing I always do. Talk my way out of it." He says simply as we start climbing down the hatch.

Chewie moans loudly in response

"Yes, I do. Every time." Han says stubbornly as the hatch is closed behind us.

Han starts walking down one of the halls and I crouch crawl quietly after him wanting to see how he deals with the gang. When he comes to a cross section a door opens at the far side.

"Han Solo. You are a dead man."

Han smiles innocently, friendly. BB-8 nervously looks back and forth between the gang and Han.

"Bala-Tik. What's the problem?" Han asks still playing innocent.

"The problem is we loaned you fifty thousand for this job."

We look up, trying to get a view on this gang but unable to see them.

"Can you see them?" Finn asks

"No." Rey replies.

They start crawling down the crawl space. And I silently follow the shuffling pair.

"I heard you also borrowed fifty thousand from Kanjiklub."

"You know you can't trust those little freaks! How long've we known each other?" Han asks

When underneath the gang we can see they're heavily armed and armoured.

"They have blasters..." Finn points out

"A lot of 'em." Rey adds.

"That's gangs for you" I say looking through the gaps at the red outfitted guards and the leader in a black suit.

"Don't worry, you two have me" I say smiling reassuringly and a little playfully.

"The question is how much longer will we know each other? Not long. We want our money back now."

"Ya' think hunting Rathtars is cheap? I spent that money." Han says simply.

"Kanjiklub wants their investment back, too." Says the man known as Bala-Tik.

"I never made a deal with Kanjiklub!" Han say sounding like he believes it. But Tik's reply is not fooled.

"Tell that to Kanjiklub."

The sound of a hatch opening at the other end of the hall catches our attention.

"Tasu Leech. Good to see you."

'Wrong again, Solo. It's over for you.' He says in hislanguage, fortunately it's one I know.

"What is he saying?" Finn asks

"It doesn't sound good, I'll say that much" I say as we start to move towards the opposite end of the walkway to see this other gang.

"Boys. You're both gonna get what I promised! Have I ever not delivered for you before?" Han says trying to keep the peace.

"Yeah." Says Tik simply.

'Twice!' Comes the response from Leech.

"What was the second time?" Han asks trying to feign forgetfulness I assume.

"Your game is old. There's no one in the galaxy left for you to swindle." Tik says threateningly

'Nowhere left for you to hide.' Comes another threat from Leech.

"That BB unit... the First Order is looking for one just like it. And three fugitives." Comes the calm yet accusing voice of Bala-Tik.

Finn and Rey stop crawling hearing about us being fugitives.

"That makes sense..." I say surprisingly relaxed about it. The other two not so much.

"First I've heard of it."

Finn and Rey look at each other, afraid.

'Search the freighter.' Leech tells one of his goons and one of the Kanjiklub members begins moving down the corridor, aiming a torch down between the grates. In silent panic Finn and Rey start crawling back the opposite way and I follow behind them carefully  
not to make a sound.

Rey crawls over to a junction box and looks at the controls.

"Wait wait wait wait. If we close the blast doors in that corridor, we can trap both gangs!" Rey suggests

"Close the blast doors from here?" Finn asks unsure how

"Resetting the fuses should do it." She explains

"How do you know that would work?" I ask

"I'm a scavenger, I know these things" she says sounding a little insulted. "But usually I'm working with powerless parts" she adds.

Rey begins resetting the fuses, pressing large buttons turning the lights on them from green to red. I look up pointing my riffle defensively in case any gang members get too close and find us. I look over at Rey who smiles optimistically and then Finn  
who looks hopeful. The lights switch off leaving the ominous red backup lights on..

"Is this supposed to happen?" I ask concerned. There's a loud beep that echoes through the ship.

"Oh no." Rey says sheepishly

"Oh no, what?" Finn asks

I look at her with a silent question on my face

"Wrong fuses."

Suddenly all the lights switch back on.

"Kill them! And take the droid!"

Something roars at the end of the hall and the gang starts screaming and shooting.

"Oh no" I say knowing exactly what that means. Finn and I share the same expression of fear.

"What?" Rey asks before paling, looking like she's realised.

"We need to leave..." I say starting to make my way back to the hatch.

We hurriedly crawl through the space below decks.

"This was a mistake!" Finn says

"Huge!" Rey agrees

I open the hatch and jump up with my riffle at the ready before jumping up and helping Rey and Finn climb out, quickly. We run down a corridor and turn

"What do they look like?" Rey asks as we turn another corner. We stop abruptly as we see gang members fighting a rathtar and failing, screaming and shooting it.

"They look like that." Finn says just before a Rathtar eats one of the gang members. Rey covers her mouth and Finn drags her down a corridor and I run close behind them. "this way" I say turning down one corridor and running fast as we hear something  
behind us.

"This way!" Finn calls turning down another corridor.

"Are you sure?" Rey asks running in front of us.

There's a slight growl from behind and I feel something trip me slightly as it tries to grab me I realise there's only one thing it could be and it puts the fear of God into me. Thankfully I'm able to stay on my feet but I hear Finn fall to the floor  
I turn quickly and jump to try and grab him before before he's dragged away.

Despite my fear I'm not going to abandon him to a Rathtar. I grab his hand which causes me to get pulled with him as the creature starts to roll away. The the tentacles flail around and hit me causing me to let go of Finn but it grabs me, curling tightly  
around my left wrist.

Finn keeps shouting for Rey as we're pulled down the corridors I'm thankful I still have my riffle so I try shooting the creature that's shaking us around, I keep missing. I curse and try again, this time I take my time I aim for the tentacle that was  
holding Finn. As I concentrate It feels as though everything slows down and I shoot it cutting the limb clean off and dropping Finn. It shakes violently causing me to drop my rifle as it slams me against the wall. I curse and see a door and a panel  
next to it. I try to reach for it to close the door but I can't. I try to reach, mentally pushing the button in my mind and without having to touch anything the door closes and cuts the tentacle holding me and I drop heavily as the the tentacle also  
falls and flails around letting go of its grip on me.

I look back as I hear Rey rush over to Finn.

"It had me! It had me!" He shouts pulling the tentacle off his leg.

"It had me! But Amara, she shot it-!" He says before looking at me as I lie there on the floor, heart racing and silently panicking but more than a little relieved that the door closed, but how did it close?

"That was lucky!" She says to Finn before they both help me up asking if I'm okay. I nod.

"Let's just get out of here" I say my head still in panic mode.

We run through the corridors towards the Falcon.

"Where's Han and the Wookie?" I ask hopping them and BB8 are okay. We turn into the hangar and see Han helping the injured Wookie up the ramp.

"Han!" Rey says as she sees him

Finn and Rey race past Han.

"You, close the door behind us!" Han says to Rey

"You take care of Chewie!" He says to Finn

"What happened to him?" I ask looking at the wound and noticing he was shot. Gang member start shooting at us so I start to shoot back covering us from fire.

Han and Rey race up the ramp as Finn heads up with Chewie, who yells in pain. Once they're aboard I get on behind them putting my blaster rifle down.

"Hold on back there" Han calls from the cockpit.

I sit in a chair and grab BB8 so we don't go sliding around like the first flight in this ship.

After a few moments we jump into light speed sending my already funny feeling head a little more dizzy. At least we're away from the gangs and the Rathtars though. What's next? Rancors?


	5. Chapter 5

Alarms are sounding all over the ship, after the initial burst of speed I get up and try to fix one of the gas leaks from a pipe that's burst under pressure spewing out a cloud of white smoke I get too close to the smog and it burns the back of my hand  
a little, I hiss and shake my wrist in pain for a brief moment.  
"Hold together you old rust bucket" I say turning a valve to hopefully redirect the flow while covering my mouth and nose with my sleeve just to be safe. This may be the most famous ship in the galaxy, but it needs a lot of repairing.

I can hear Chewie howling in pain in the infirmary.  
"I need help with this giant hairy thing!" Finn shouts  
"You hurt Chewie, you're gonna deal with me!" Han calls back to him from the cockpit  
"Hurt him?! He almost killed me six times!" Finn complains

The alarms suddenly stop and I'm able to fully shut off the large pipe from leaking. I curse and walk into the infirmary to find something to fix myself up with realising i've still not yet sorted out my arm from being shot by a blaster.

I walk in and notice Finn messing around with a holochess set, obviously not knowing what he's doing, Rey walks in behind him. I walk over to a cabinet full of medicinal supplies and look for what I need and once I find what I'm looking for I take my  
jacket off and sit down in a chair, starting to patch myself together.

"So, fugitives, huh?" Han asks.  
I glance up as he starts to speak  
"The First Order wants the map." Rey starts to explain so I go back to first aid, thankful it's one of the skills I have.

"Finn and Ammara are with the Resistance... I'm just a scavenger."  
I look at Finn as Rey says he's resistance, he manages to switch the chess set off and looks uncomfortable as Han eyes him sceptically.

"Let's see whatcha got." Han says to the spherical droid.  
BB8 looks at me and I nod, since he knows me he rolls forward and projects part of a holographic star map before expanding it to fit the room.

I look at the map curiously, people have killed and died for this, it's not even complete, these seem like uncharted systems. Or at least not any I've ever seen before.

"This map's not complete. It's just a piece. Ever since Luke disappeared, people have been looking for him." Han says as he walks through the three dimensional star chart.

"Why'd he leave?" Rey asks curiously

"He was training a new generation of Jedi. One boy, an apprentice turned against him, destroyed it all. Luke felt responsible... He walked away from everything." Han explains

"Do you know what happened to him?" Finn asks

"No one knows" I add, I've been quiet this whole time "Many people believe he is dead" I'm one of those people.

"There are a lot of rumors. Stories. The people who knew him the best think he went looking for the first Jedi temple." Han continues

"The Jedi were real?" Rey asks sounding amazed

"I used to wonder that myself. Thought it was a bunch of mumbo-jumbo. A magical power holding together good, evil, the dark side and the light." He pauses "Crazy thing is, it's true. The Force, the Jedi, all of it. It's all true."

I stand up pulling my jacket on over my bandaged right arm and my left hand. "But the only thing you will see of the force these days is the dark side," I say bitterly. They've caused so much suffering in their endless search for more power  
and selfish gain.  
"It's unbalanced, without the jedi, equilibrium is slipping, we all need Luke. The First Order want to destroy the balance. We need to make sure they don't succeed, if anyone should find the last jedi it can not be them. But you have to wonder, if  
Luke is still alive, why is he hiding and not helping us? Sometimes I think we should find other options rather than chasing a ghost" I say speaking my mind, it's probably the most I have said since this chain of events had begun.  
None of them seem to know what to say, all except BB8 who beeps reassuringly.  
"Don't worry BB8, I'm not about to give up, no matter what we go through. I just think we should be concentrating on gathering our forces and finding out where The First Order are so we can take the fight to them rather than loosing another good  
soul to them, too many people have died already" I say looking at the droid

A beep goes off on a control pannel, Han walks over to it and presses some buttons. BB8 cuts off the hologram. Chewie rises and moans to Han, but Han motions for Chewie to lay back

"No, you rest." He says to his injured friend.  
"You want my help?" Han half asks "You're getting it. Gonna' see an old friend. She'll get your droid home. This is our stop." Han says casually as he starts to walk towards to cockpit, Rey and Finn following. I sit back down in the  
chair and put my head in my hands. I push my hair back realising some strands have come loose and take it down and then re tie it up into the bobble. It's been at least two Earth days, the last time I slept was when I crashed and I don't even know  
how long I was out. Thankfully It's been kinda' hectic so the adrenaline has kept me going but now that we're not doing much I'm feeling the toll of lack of sleep. I sit there lost in thought thinking about everything that's happened. Since fixing  
myself up and getting rid of all my pains I can think a little clearer, more memories have come back which I'm glad about. I remember I used to run around on this ship as a child, those memories are patchy, though nothing to do with the crash, but  
I still don't feel quite myself, I still feel like I'm forgetting things.

Finn comes to find me, carrying a blaster. I look at him confused for a moment.  
"Did I miss something?" I ask standing up quickly.  
"You okay?" he asks concerned.  
I nod "I will be"  
He nods understandingly  
"We're about to go" he says. I nod thanking him for letting me know and he turns to leave..  
"Finn. A word?" I ask before he can run off.  
I'm not sure how to start the conversation so I don't beat around the bush.  
"Who are you, really?" I ask politely. "You're not resistance, I know that much" I point out. "If we're going to the Resistance Base, a base with family and friends, I need to be able to trust you, I want to but you need to be  
honest with me." I say calmly. He stays quiet for a long moment.  
"You're right, I'm not Resistance..." He pauses "I'm just trying to get as far away from the First Order as I can" He says  
"Alright." I say nodding. There's got to be more to it than that, but it's a start at least.  
"Alright?" He asks looking concerned  
I nod "Yeah, I understand." He looks quite relieved about it but still slightly concerned "And don't worry, I won't tell Rey, it's up to you to do that, if she likes you half as much as It seems like she does she will be just as understanding"  
He opens his mouth about to protest.  
"Relax, your secret is safe with me" I tease a little. He seems to get a little flustered.  
"There you are, we were beginning to wonder if you were ever going to join us" Rey says finding us.  
"Everything okay?" she asks looking between Finn and I a little suspicious.  
"Everything is fine, we're on our way" I reply and start walking towards the exit, I grab my riffle on the way. As I pass she looks at Finn confused, he hasn't started moving yet, I just continue outside and walk over to Han. Rey and Finn join  
us not a moment later.  
"You two took your time" he says  
"Yes, well, we're here now, lead on" I say slinging my weapon over my shoulder

"Solo, why are we here again?" Finn asks  
Did he just call him by his last name? I wonder giving him a look.

"To get your droid on a clean ship." Han replies carrying on walking towards an ancient looking castle

"Clean?" Rey asks

"Untraceable" I clarify for her

"Do you think it was luck that Chewie and I found the Falcon? If we can find it on our scanners, the First Order's not far behind. Want to get BB8 to the Resistance? Maz Kanata is our best bet." He explains as we walk towards the structure's  
main door

"We can trust her, right?" Finn asks

"Relax, kid. She's run this watering hole for a thousand years. Maz is a bit of an acquired taste, so let me do the talking. And whatever you do, don't stare..." Han warns stopping at the door

"At what?" Rey and Finn ask

"Any of it." Han says simply as he turns around and walks in as the door opens. Music is the first thing we hear followed by loud chatterring.  
We enter the noisy, crowded hall. Humans, aliens of many colours and species are crammed around gambling machines and tables, drinking, arguing and laughing.  
The door closes behind us.  
"Han Solo" calls a voice.  
Music stops and everyone turns to look. There's also a few sounds of glasses being dropped. The silence is deafening and everyone is looking in our direction, it's unnerving.

"Oh boy." He mumbles  
"Hey, Maz!" He says smiling and waving in greeting at a small, orange, alien woman with big goggles on.

Noise returns to the establishment as everyone goes back to what they were doing. Maz walks over to us.  
"Where's my boyfriend?" Maz asks  
"Chewie's working on the Falcon." Han replies  
"I like that Wookiee." She says, I raise a brow, unsure wether she's being serious or not "I assume you need something. Desperately. Let's get to it." She says and starts to walk motioning for him to follow, Han follows indicating for us to  
follow him so we do, closesly.

We pass all manner of aliens and old droids Maz picks up a bowl of food and walks over to a table putting it down before sitting down at the table. Han sits first and we all sit around him. He explains our situation leaving out the Rathtars.  
She then looks at us.  
"So before Han kidnapped you what were you three doing on Jakku?"  
"I didn't kidnap-" he stops as she gives him a look  
"Well I live there" Rey says simply yet politely.  
"I crashed and ended up bumping into Rey and BB8" Finn says "...painfully..." He mumbles a little to which Rey looks amused and apologetic.  
Maz looks at me. I'm unsure what to say.  
"I went looking for BB8 and a friend, I was shot down by The First Order, ended up running into these two. Then The First Order came after us so we stole The Falcon from..." I struggle to remember the name  
"Unclar Plutt" Rey reminds me.  
"Yes, thank you, Finn dealt with The Fighters while Rey did some fancy flying, then Han kidnapped us" I explain briefly  
"And now you need to get back to your base?" She asks looking contemplating.  
I nod "as fast as possible" I add  
BB8 beeps at her  
"A map to Skywalker himself?" She asks "You're right back in the mess." She says looking at Han sounding ammused

"Maz, I need you to get this droid to Leia." Han says

"Hmm. No." She says simply, giving him a serious look. We all look at him wondering what we're going to do now.

"You've been running away from this fight for too long. Han, nyakee nago wadda. Go home!" She says.  
I don't understand part of what she says but it seem ms like they are quite good friends.

Noticing Rey is eating some of the food I pick up half a cut Apple feeling rather hungry and I eat as they speak.

"Leia doesn't want to see me." Han says

"Actually general, she does" I point out. Maz looks and me and smiles Han gives me a look I'm uncertain about.  
"Did you call me general?"  
I nod "last I knew you didn't really resign, you just vanished" I shrug

"Please, we came here for your help." Finn begs

"What fight?" Rey asks picking up on that part of what Maz said.

"The only fight. Against the dark side. Through the ages, I've seen evil take many forms. The Sith. The Empire. Today, it is the First Order. Their shadow is spreading across the galaxy. We must face them. Fight them. All of us." Maz says passionately.  
I nod agreeing with her.

"There is no fight against the First Order! Not one we can win." I look at Fin surprised at his outburst "Look around. There's no chance we haven't been recognized already. I bet you the First Order is on their way right-" Finn stops, seeing  
Maz adjusting her goggles, scrutinizing him, her eyes get larger as the lenses adjust.

"What's this? What are you doing?" Finn asks. She hoists herself on the tabletop, knocking over food and plates, crawling towards Finn. A metal mug falls onto BB8's head who beeps and whistles confused.

"Solo, what is she doing?" Finn asks Han

"I don't know, but it ain't good." He replies nonchalantly

"If you live long enough you see the same eyes in different people. I'm looking at the eyes of a man who wants to run." She says

"You don't know a thing about me. Where I'm from. What I've seen. You don't know the First Order like I do. They'll slaughter us. We all need to run." Finn says looking between us all.  
I look at Finn curiously, he admitted that he wanted to run, I knew there was something else he wasn't saying, but how does he know the First Order better than anyone?

Rey is stunned by his changed personality.  
Maz, not so much. She crawls back to her chair. She points to some aliens in the corner.  
"You see those two? They'll trade work for transportation to the Outer Rim. There, you can disappear." Maz says simply  
Finn looks over to them looking as though he is considering it.

"Finn!" Rey protests  
"Come with me." He says to Rey  
"What about BB8? We're not done yet. We have to get him back to your base." Rey says  
BB8 beeps at him also not wanting him to go.  
"I can't." He says apologetically  
Finn stands to leave. He offers the gun back to Han.

"Amara" she says giving me a look wondering why I'm not saying anything.  
"It's not my place to stop him" I say.

"Keep it, kid."  
Finn heads off to the aliens.  
"Finn" I call, he stops for a moment and looks back.  
"I wish you the best" I say sincerely.  
"I'm sorry" he says looking at me and Rey, his eyes linger on Rey before turning and continuing walking, Rey gets up to follow him.

I hear a voice I know, it seems to drown everything else out. "Amara!" I hear a shout from behind which gets louder as I turn around as if someone was behind me it seems to echo in my head and move away from me  
"listen to me!"

I turn to Han and Maz confused.  
"Amara..." The voice whispers solemnly.  
"Excuse me" I say to Han and Maz as I stand up leaving the table, following the voice.  
"This way" comes another voice, this one more panicked.  
I step onto a stairway leading down into a dark basement.  
Walking cautiously I start to make my way down curious about the voices. The stairs lead to a wide corridor which I stop at the bottom.  
"Quickly"  
The voice seems to be coming from a room at the end of the corridor.  
I walk down it until I get to the door and slowly move towards it.  
It is almost as if a something is drawing me to it, pulling me like a stretched elastic.  
I move to the door and it unlocks as I reach towards it and it opens without my hand physically contacting it.

I enter the room that looks like a storage cupboard. And old box in the middle catches my attention out of everything inside and I crouch down in front of it and open it. The hinges on the aged box creak as I push the lid backwards. What's inside is unlike  
anything I have ever seen. Curiously I reach out to pick it up.

Everything goes dark as I touch it and I quickly move my hand away and close the lid with an echoing thud.  
I hear a sound like a shock and strained breathing, then comes a hum and the room lights up, it's changed from an ancient brick room to a dark metal corridor well lit but not illuminating the darkness.  
I stand up and look around confused and concerned.  
I start to run down the corridor but it tilts suddenly causing me to fall against the wall and roll as it collapses behind me into rubble. The corridor that was smooth is now rough, I'm lying on grass. I look up hearing a mournful scream, I see fire and  
a building in flames. A droid and a man. Hooded and cloaked he falls to his knees next to the machine and places his mechanical right hand on the blue and white astromech.  
There's a flash from behind causing me to turn and suddenly it's raining, as I turn I see a man rushing towards me, he looks as though he is about to attack but before he can he's impaled by a fiery red beam. He falls dead in front of me and I quickly  
get to my feet. Bodies are lying lifeless in the mud and a man wearing a mask stands in front of me with a red bladed weapon, six hooded men behind him. I back up and he starts to move towards me.  
Lightning flashes blinding white and I'm on a ship. I back into something and turn around to see a young girl looking at a star map on a circular centre console that I backed up into.  
The light darkens from above and trees burst through the floor causing snow to erupt from the ground. I bring my arms up defensively to cover my face and close my eyes. The snow falls back down gently and everything is quiet.  
I look around, the freezing air shown by my breath but I can not feel the cold.  
"Are you afraid?" I hear an old wise voice ask  
I don't think, I rush towards the sound.  
A dark hooded figure steps out from behind a tree. The same masked man with the red lightsaber. I almost walk into him so I step back to get away from him tripping, falling into the snow, but it's not snow, now it's dark ancient stone. I look around,  
back in Maz' castle out of breath, outside the room I had previously been in.  
I hear a male voice "these are your first steps" he whispers calmly.  
I try to process what just happened. What I've just seen.  
I hear something and turn to look. Unnerved by the events.  
Maz is hurriedly walking towards me.

"What was that?" I ask getting up quickly. "What just happened?"

"That lightsaber was Luke's. And his father's before him and now, it calls to you!" She says as if it makes sense.

"What? ...What are you talking about?" I ask baffled. My mind is all tangled in a knot of images and voices and thoughts.

"I have to get back to my base, I need to get the map to the general" I say confused. "I... I need to... Do... Something... I don't know... I don't know what to do..." I say unable to focus my thoughts.

"Han told me." She says softly. She folds her goggle up showing her small eyes. She takes my hand gently and I crouch so I'm near enough her hight.

"Dear child. I see your eyes. You already know the truth. Whomever you're waiting for, they're never coming back." She says softly. I close my eyes and sigh  
"But... there's someone who still could."

"Luke." I say knowing what she means "he's a ghost" I say shaking my head.

"The belonging you seek is not behind you. It is ahead. I am no Jedi, but I know the Force. It moves through and surrounds every living thing. Close your eyes. Feel it." She says closing her eyes.

The way she describes it is so poetic, I haven't heard anyone talk about it with such enthusiasm since my mother. I almost find myself closing my eyes like I used to. But I don't.

"The light. It's always been there. It will guide you." She opens her eyes "The saber. Take it."  
Realising what she wants me to do I stand up fast. I can't find him, no one will ever find him.  
"The Jedi are gone, Luke is never coming back" I say shaking my head before walking past her and outside for some air, my head is spinning, emotions, thoughts, memories, all swirling around, some I'd forgotten, others I never knew I had.

All of a sudden I feel dread wash over me then cold, I become lightheaded and have to lean on the wall for support. I hear an earth shattering explosion in the sky. I look up to see red beams of light fading away and explosions. Larger than planets in  
distant space. Four small and one largest of all.

I stand up and move forward a little wondering what's happening.  
Soon everyone is outside. Han and Chewie appear next to me looking at the sky. Dozens of languages exclaiming horror.

"It was the Republic." I hear Finn shout. We turn to him surprised as he returns, moving quickly through the crowd. Horror evident on his face.  
"The First Order, they've done it." Finn says to Han.  
Realisation hits me, Hosnian Prime, my home. Destroyed. Thousands of people killed. My parents. Distraught I fall to my knees. People start panicking and running for their ships.

I stand up feeling numb Han, Finn and Chewie go back inside following Maz.  
I joined the resistance because my parents were part of it. Now it's personal.

I look up hearing fighters approaching. Over the trees I see First Order transports and TIE fighters inbound. They've killed my best friend. Destroyed my homeworld with my family and friends on it and now they're here. I get up and make my way towards  
a transport that's landing while the TIE fighters start shooting the building causing chunks of the castle to go crashing to the ground. As soon as the ramp lowers and the troops appear I start shooting.

I Take cover behind some debris as they start shooting at me one gets me in the shoulder. I curse and stay down behind the debris cover. One of the aliens start to shoot the troopers as they run to my cover. He gets shot just as he gets here. I curse  
as I notice he had a grenade in hand beeping. I quickly pick it up ignoring the pain in my shoulder and throw it it explodes sending troopers flying over my cover. I peek up and notice they're gone so I look around for anyone I know, I spot Han and  
Chewie, but no Rey or Finn. I get up and run to them shooting any storm trooper I see, shooting one in the back before jumping over some debris. I see Finn on the floor and a trooper walking casually towards him I aim at him as be raised his weapon  
to attack Finn but he's shot backwards by Han using Chewie's bowcaster.  
Han helps Finn up as I run o er to them. "Han!" I call alerting them that I'm coming so they don't shoot me.  
"What happened to you?" Han asks  
I don't get to reply as stormtroopers surround us.  
"Don't move!"  
They take our weapons at gun pain before marching us towards a transport, hands on our heads.

"We have incoming at two-eight-point-six! Move! Dispatch! Move! Move! Move!" A large amount of the troopers head to cover and set up positions facing the lake "Scramble all squads! Repeat, scramble all squads! Anti-air cover en route to our position!"

We look to the source of the commotion. Over the lake spray is shooting up from the water as the firmilliar shape of X-Wings flying low over the water towards us

"It's the Resistance." Han says sounding surprised.

TIE fighters fly overhead meeting the X-Wings and breaking out of formation. A TIE crashes into the lake I front of the troopers that were taking cover behind a wall. Several fighters attack the wall sending them flying.  
An x wing flies low shooting stormtroopers with precise accuracy, heading straight for us. They shoot the hostiles guarding us.  
"Quick" Han says without missing a beat and we rush to find our weapons.  
Finn and head head to the same two guards, he picks up a blaster and starts shooting as I pick up my riffle. I look up to see a TIE fighter shooting at Finn and I, it gets shot down and I grab Finn and pull him to the floor as it flies over head and crashes  
behind us. I watch from the floor as the x wing that shot it down circles around shooting down several more fighters. Finn helps me up as I keep watching the pilot who, coming in low takes out some ground troops before swooping backwards shooting  
down two more fighters as he comes back around flying over head.  
"Woah! Yeah! That's one hell of a pilot!" Finn shouts  
There's only one pilot that could be.  
"Poe" I say quietly feeling relieved.

A blast passes my head and I turn around and start shooting the stormtroopers who are becoming few and far between.

The Storm troopers board their transports retreating. TIE fighters giving them cover. I make my way to Finn, Han and Chewie a transport flies overhead and I look up, resistance transport. Han and Chewie start to walk as I get to them.

"He took her! Did you see that? He took her. She's gone!"

"Yeah, yeah, I know..." Han says, his mind on other things as he's making his way to a transport that's landing, Chewie in tow  
"Finn, slow down. Who took who?" I ask not knowing what he's talking about as I look around. I see BB8 rolling towards us but no  
"Rey." He says just as I realise "Ren, he took her"  
I look over to the transport as BB8 passes and rolls next to Han the door opens a small unit of soldiers exit and Leia. As soon as she sees Han she stops stunned.

"We've gotta' do something" Finn says to me desperately  
"We'll get her back, I promise" I say before looking up at the sky where the fireballs where my home used to be are still burning brightly.


	6. Chapter 6

As the Falcon lands on D'Qar I worry a little about the consequences of my insubordination. I get up painfully, holding my arm as if it was in a sling, it's stiff after being shot in the shoulder. I exit the Falcon to go and find General Organa, I head for the command centre where I see her speaking to an officer. I take a deep breath before walking towards her.

"General" I say greeting her sheepishly

She turns to me and when she sees who addressed her she looks surprised

"Amara" she says shocked

She dismisses the officer who hurries away as she looks at my wound and bandages.

"Forgive me for my insubordination general, I did what I thought necessary and I surrender myself to your judgement" I say

"Under different circumstances you would be trailed and put to court martial. But you helped bring back BB8 and the map to Luke" she says smiling softly "you also brought Han back" she adds quietly "but don't make it a habit" she says before looking apologetic and moving towards me.

"I'm sorry about your parents" She says hugging me, I hug her back gently as I try not to break down about loosing my family. At least I've still got Leia who is like a mother to me. "I'm glad you're back" she says moving away "go to the infirmary, get yourself patched up" she says softly.

I nod "yes general" I say smiling a little.

I make my way to the infirmary down the busy corridors until I walk through the double doors. I hear Chewie before I see him, he speaks to the female doctor that's attending to his arm injury.

"That sounds very scary."

He replies in a low moan

"You must be so brave."

Chewie agrees, not so humbly.

"Amara, are you a sight for sore eyes" a man says from the back of the room as he walks towards me.

"Hello James" I say amused

"Come on, you know the drill" he says inclining his head as he heads back to the back of the room.

"Are you calling me accident prone?" I chuckle following him.

"No, not at all, just saying you must miss me when you're not injured so you get injured to visit" he says playfully

"You got me" I chuckle as I take my jacket off "you know how I miss your charming personality when you're not around"

He laughs a little as he pulls a screen around me

"I'm glad you're back" he says smiling

"I am too" I say smiling

"Well, you're not here to chat, gotta' get you patched up. So that in a few hours you can come back to see me again" he teases.

I chuckle and sit on the edge of a bed so he can have a look at my arm, back of my hand and palm

"Alright, they're all sorted, you're going to have to take your shirt off so we can get to your shoulder" he says.

"What a way to get a girl out of her clothes" I chuckle and take it off painfully, it sticks to the wound a little bit causing it to bleed slightly as it tears the skin. The blood dribbles onto my white sport bra.

"That looks nasty"

"Yeah, they shot holes into my jacket, I'm gonna' need a new one" I say looking at the jacket.

He chuckles

"It's a good job your sense of pain is almost none existent, that one would have had you down for a few hours" he says

"Hooray for my Sensory Processing Disorder" I chuckle a little. I lie down on the bed and he sits down on a chair at the edge to get to my shoulder.

"Relax, maybe have a nap" he suggests. "This may sting a little" he warns. I let myself relax and try not to think about it, closing my eyes.

I daydream while the doctor works on my arm.

I hear the screen get moved quickly and the doctor stops what he's doing on my arm and gets up. He doesn't say anything but I hear him sit back down a moment later and carry on with my shoulder, occasionally drying the blood dripping from my wound as he pulls out bits of my shirt and jacket.

When he's finished he bandages me up and I open my eyes looking at my shoulder.

"Thank you" I say before looking up to see Poe. I get up quickly and hug him glad to see he's alright. Yes I saw him flying but seeing him In front of me, I couldn't contain my relief. He hugs back firmly but gently.

"I thought you were dead" he says sounding just as relieved that I'm not dead.

"I thought you were dead" I say looking up at him "never do that again!" I say hitting him in the chest for scaring me. "I thought I'd lost you" I say hugging him again.

"Come on, let's get you cleaned up and fed" he says softly. I reluctantly move away and nod. I pick up my dirty and holy shirt critically.

"Well I'm not wearing that..." I say throwing it in the bloody material bin.

I grab the arms of my flight suit and pull it on, zipping it up before grabbing my jacket. I look at it contemplating binning it.

"I'll patch it up" I say sentimental about the jacket.

Poe chuckles and takes it from me. He wraps his arm around me and moves the screen out of the way as we leave the infirmary.

We're now in my room sitting on my bed eating food. I've gotten changed into something clean and had an awkward wash in the sink making sure I don't wet the bandages and I've let my hair down out of the bobble.

"So, new ship?" I ask smiling as I eat.

"Fancy new paint job give it away?" he chuckles.

"I couldn't tell the difference from the ground, looks like any other fighter" I say playfully

"Yeah, well I needed a new one after getting off Jakku" he says smiling

"How did you get off Jakku?" I ask curiously as I finish my food and put the plate on the bedside table.

"Well, after waking up in the desert with no memory I walked for I don't know how long, luck had it that a Blarina named Naka Iit came by on a speeder and decided to help me, I, in turn, helped him when some thieves tried to disable the speeder and take everything Naka had. I took control of the speeder at the reluctance of the Blarina slowed to a stop feigning surrender and when they were close enough I hit the accelerator sending Naka and I skyward and showering the would be thieves in hot sand, disabling  
their speeders temporarily. Naka, impressed with my piloting then helped me get off Jakku"

"Sounds as hectic as when I was there" I chuckle

"I heard you went to Jakku. I was told you crashed. I thought you were dead. How did you get off Jakku and end up with Han Solo of all people?" He asks sounding concerned.

So I explain.

"Rathtars? He had three live Rathtars on board?" He asks shocked "how did he manage that?"

"He had a bigger crew" I repeat what Han told us when we asked the same question.

"And then they got free?" He asks I nod and continue my story.

I finish my explanation by saying "...I told you I would come after you" matter of factly.

"Yes you did, but you could have been killed" he says softly "shot at, crash landing, shot at again, Rathtars and more shooting..." He says

"Like I said, I got a bad feeling and I was worried about you"

"I heard you disobeyed orders" he points out

"Well... The general never specifically said they were orders..." I say

"It looks like I'm rubbing off on you after all" he chuckles a little. There's a moment of silence.

"I should let you rest" he says getting up.

"Do you have to go?" I ask not wanting him to leave.

"The general-"

"Will send for you if she needs you. Right now I need you" I say. I've spend all this time thinking he was dead, I don't want him to go so I can wake up and find out this is a dream.

"Please don't go" I say quietly

"As long as you promise to get some rest" he suggests.

I nod.

He also nods and then sits back down on the edge of the bed. I move over to him and lean on his shoulder. He puts his arm around me and pulls me closer as he lies down and I cuddle up to him. Feeling relaxed for the first time in I'm not sure how long.

I feel sleep creeping up on me but I try and push it away. I don't want to sleep yet, I just want to be here with him.


	7. Chapter 7

There's a knock on the door causing me to realise I had fallen asleep. I lean up off the bed noticing Poe heading for the door, was that a second knock I heard?  
"Commander" comes the loud voice of a young man greeting him.  
"Shh" Poe says quickly and moves outside the room and mostly closing the door. I get up and tidy my hair giving it a quick brush through as I look in the wall mounted mirror.  
"The reconnaissance data has come through, you're needed in the command centre" I hear, quietly from outside the door.  
"Thank you, I'll be right there" Poe replies before coming back in, surprised to see I'm awake.  
"Duty calls, let's go" I say walking towards the door

"You should be resting" Poe says softly stopping me from leaving by standing in front of me and holding my arms gently.  
"I've rested, I feel much better" I say, but honestly feeling like a ten tone weight.  
"Amara-"  
"Would you sit in bed if I was called to the general about the plan of attack on the enemy base that has just destroyed your homeworld and killed your family and has kidnapped your friend?" I ask knowing what he would say. He doesn't say anything, but we turn and leave my room heading towards the command centre

Huddled around the holographic map table, with all officers and important personnel gathered around in the room, I stand next to Leia as Poe is looking over Snap's data while everyone is gathering, it doesn't look good from what I've seen and heard them talk about. Now that everyone is here Leia looks at Poe for him to start explaining.

"The scan data from Snap's reconnaissance flight confirms Finn's report." Poe says simply.

"They've somehow created a hyper lightspeed weapon built within the planet itself." Snap explains briefly

"A laser cannon?" Brance asks

"We're not sure how to describe a weapon of this scale." Snap says

"It's another Death Star. " Major Ematt states

"I wish that were the case, Major." Poe says before hitting several buttons on a control panel. A hologram of the Death Star appears "This was the Death Star." Poe hits another button and the Death Star shrinks. "And this is Starkiller Base." He says as a large planet size Death Star, modified and much more advanced appears, making the Death Star look like a small moon in comparison.

"So it's big." Han points out

"How is it possible to power a weapon of this size?" Admiral Ackbar asks

"It uses the power of the sun. As the weapon is charged, the sun is drained until it disappears." Finn explains

That's the only logical way it would work. I think to myself sighing

"Ma'am" An office says as she approaches Leia handing the general a datacard. She looks worried.

"The First Order, they're charging the weapon again now" Leia says also looking worried, everyone looks at her as she speaks sharing her concern but not understanding why, until Leia explains "Our system is the next target."  
People gasp surprised and worried,  
"What are we going to do?" I ask her quietly

"Oh my. Without the Republic fleet, we're doomed."

"Very reassuring" I say giving the droid a look, he always was an easily worried protocol droid.

"Okay, how do we blow it up?" Han asks causing everyone to look at him "There's always a way to do that."  
I nod agreeing, they blew up the last two

"Han's right." Leia says  
Han is surprised that Leia agreed with him  
"It's got to have a weakness, like the a thermal exhaust port or something similar at least" I point out looking at Finn, he looks at though he is about to speak until someone else does.

"In order for that amount of power to be contained, that base would need some kind of thermal oscillator..." Admiral Statura explains thoughtfully. Finn Nods.  
"There is one." he says as he moves around the hologram of Starkiller Base.

"Precinct 47. Here." he says moving past Admiral Ackbar and standing next to Poe who highlights what Finn points to. A hexagonal shape is highlighted and the pipes leading down into the centre of the planet are shown.

"If we can destroy that oscillator, it might de-stabilize the core and cripple the weapon." Admiral Statura hypothesizes

"... Maybe the planet." Major Ematt adds

"We'll go in there and we'll hit that oscillator with everything we got." Poe says looking at Leia.

"They have defensive shields that our ships cannot penetrate." Admiral Ackbar points out.

"We disable the shields." Han states as if it's that easy "Kid, you worked there, what do you got?" he asks Finn.

"I can do it." Finn says confidently

"I like this guy." Han says smiling at Finns confidence

"I can disable the shields. But I have to be there, on the planet" Finn

"We'll get you there." Han says

"Han, how?" Leia asks

"If I told you, you wouldn't like it." Han replies

"So we disable the shields, take out the oscillator and we blow up their big gun."  
Chewie roars. I look at Poe a little worried, this is likely a one way trip for most of us, Poe looks like he shares my thoughts.  
"All right. Let's go!" Poe says causing everyone to start to move  
I turn around and head to get ready to fly.

"Amara!" Leia calls before I can get too far away "Not you" she says shaking her head  
"What?" I ask in disbelief.

"You're injured and you're grounded" She says simply.  
"General, with all do respect they killed my family, they've got one of my friends, and the rest of my friends are about to take the fight to them, you can not expect me to sit back and not help"

"You said you surrendered yourself for judgement, this is it" She says finally. I knew it was going to come back to bite me in the backside somehow.  
"General. You need every pilot you've got on this" I state "You can't keep me grounded"  
"Amara. That's an order" she says seriously  
I'm furious but I say no more on the matter and I go to find Poe.

Outside the fleet prepares for the mission. Pilots inspect their ships as crews fuel their fighters. Mechanics make adjustments. Ground controllers move ships into take off formation. I look around outside until I see the black and orange x wing with BB8 being pulled up into it.

I run over to him having to doge a few people who are also running around.  
"Poe!" I call causing him to turn around. He doesn't look surprised that I'm not suiting up and I realise he must have asked Leia to ground me.  
"I should be going with you" I say looking at the floor worried about him  
"No, you need to rest" he says making me look up to him  
"When this entire system could be blown apart and you killed trying to stop it?" I say shaking my head feeling my concern getting the better of me.  
"Hey, it's okay" He says hugging me  
"No it's not"  
"I'm coming back this time" He says softly  
"You said that last time" I point out  
"And I came back" he states smiling  
I step back and look up at him and he smiles at me reassuringly.  
I stand on my toes and kiss him. I've waited for too long to do that and now may be my last chance.  
I stop and look at him seriously "You had better come back" I say before starting to move away.  
He doesn't reply, he pulls me closer and kisses me.

BB8 beeps causing him to pull away and look at the droid who has just teased that it's about time.  
I chuckle a little and blush looking at the floor.  
"You had better be here when I get back" he says smiling  
"Go get em'" I smile. He kisses me once more before moving to his ladders to get into his ship. I move away and go back inside to find Leia.


	8. Chapter 8

It's been painfully quiet except for orders being given to the fighters. We're waiting until the shields on the base go down and it's agonisingly slow. I'm a fighter and I'm sitting here listening to officers give out orders so that they know I'm not running off to join in the fight. I surrendered myself to judgement and if this is it then so be it, as much as I dislike it.

I feel myself drifting away as I sit there in the command centre, all I can really think about right now is Rey, I can't help but think they're torturing her to get information. I can almost see her in my mind strapped to an interrogation chair in pain as they're trying to get information out of her.  
I feel weightless, I blink and look around and realise I'm no longer in the command centre my mind is elsewhere watching Rey seeing nothing but the bright white room she is in and I hear a voice talking to her but I can not see a face I blink and all of a sudden I'm sitting in the chair looking at a silhouetted figure with his hand raised up to my face. I feel pain as if someone is in my head trying to claw into my mind, the pain isn't physical, it's mental, but it feels as though my skull is being crushed.

"Get out of my head" I say, but my voice isn't my own, it's Rey's

"I know you've seen the map. It's in there... And now, you'll give it to me. Don't be afraid. I feel it too" is the voice's response.

"I'm not giving you anything" she replies

"We'll see" he says confidently

He pushes trying to get into my mind and I push him back. I find myself holding my breath slightly as I push resist. We wrestle against each others minds until suddenly I feel fear, a fear that I will never be a strong as Darth Vader, but it's not my fear, it's his. I'm inside his head.

"You... You're afraid... That you will never be as strong as Darth Vader" as I say this his mind retreats before I can find anything else.

The shadowed figure retrieves something just outside my field of vision and leaves the room, telling a passing trooper to stand guard. I find myself trying to pull myself out of my restrains before hearing the troopers radio go off and wondering: If I could get inside his mind could I get into the mind of a stormtrooper? I concentrate and think about the trooper finding it difficult.

"You will remove these restraints And leave this cell, with the door open." I say, still with Rey's voice

"What did you say?" The trooper asks

I feel my heartbeat rising worried.

"You will remove these restraints And leave this cell, with the door open." I repeat

The storm trooper starts to move and stands on my right looking right at me as I stare at him.

"I'll tighten those restraints, scavenger scum!" He says staring back at me.

I calm myself and look intently at him, almost staring into him as I feel for his mind.  
"You will remove these restraints And leave this cell, with the door open." I again repeat. This time he stands up straight and seems to stare into the distance.  
"I will remove these restraints. And leave this cell, with the door open." He says before pressing a button on the control panel and starting to head for the door. Feeling my hold breaking I quickly add  
"And you will drop your weapon."

"And I'll drop my weapon." he says dropping it with a clatter

I blink and look around, I watch several people scurry around wonderring what just happened. Did I just fall asleep in my chair and have some kind of strange dream? I wonder to myself.

"General, their shields are down!" An officer calls, taking me away from my thoughts

"Thank the Maker!" C-3PO says relieved, as simulated joy goes that protocol droid could almost pass for human. If covered in artificial flesh he would be a perfectly convincing android.

"Han did it! Send them in!" Leia says to Admiral Satura to send the fighters in

"Give Poe full authorization to attack." Statura says to one of the officers on coms

"Black Leader, go to sub-lights. On your call."

"Roger, base red squad, blue squad, take my lead." Poe says  
We hear other fighters acknowledge and they drop out of light speed.

"Be careful, Poe" I whisper to myself

"Almost in range!"  
As I listen I can almost see them flying in formation towards the oscillator  
"Hit the target dead centre, as many runs as we can get!" Poe orders  
"Let's light it up!"

"Direct hit!" Comes a thrilled response from one pilot but it's short lived because another pilot points out  
"But no damage!"

"Yeah, we gotta keep hitting it! Another bombing run! Remember, when that sun is gone, that weapon will be ready to fire! But as long as there's light, we got a chance." Poe explians "Guys, we got a lot of company!" Poe warns the other  
fighters "TIE fighters incoming"

I stand up, concerned, hearing that they're under attack, it's expected, but it doesn't make standing around doing nothing any easier.

There's barely any com chatter and a lot of the fighters are going down. I beg the general to let me go but she stays adamant in her decision until.  
"Two more X-wings down. That's half our fleet destroyed."

"General please..." I beg again. I'm a fighter, standing around getting stressed out over something I can not do when I would rather be out there helping.

She nods

I quickly start to head towards the exit, tying my hair back as I leave the room and head to the hangar. No time to suit up so I'll go as I am. I quickly do the pre-flight checks before being cleared for takeoff. And jumping into light speed, hoping I can get there before it's too late. I spend several long minutes watching the stars fly past my cockpit before I exit light speed just before hitting the atmosphere of the planet base and taking a quick decent to the fighting below,

"Got a fighter on my six" I hear Wexley say over the coms.  
"I'm on it" I say coming in fast from above the fighter and shooting it before anyone can really register what's gone on. Taking out another two TIE's as I loop-de-loop. Feeling more focused than I have in a long time.

"Amara?" I hear Poe's surprised voice  
I dodge a couple of anti air missiles having to fly much lower than I would have liked. I see an x wing get taken out and shoot the TIE fighter that caused it.  
"The General thought you could use my help" Yes I'm only one person but it stops me nagging her to get out here. I keep flying around defending the bombers from TIE attacks as they make their bombing run.

I brace myself as I fly through the debris of two TIEs that just collided with each other and after I come out of the explosion I get shot at from behind. I try to shake him as a couple of shots hit me. I curse as some warning lights pop up, I press some buttons and the lights fade away, thankfully.  
"Fighter on my tail. I can't shake him" I say trying every manoeuvre I can to no avail.  
"I've got your back" Poe says flying directly towards me. I know what he's doing and wait for his order "Bank Right!" he says before starting to shoot. I do as he says as a blast from the TIE hits me, Poe flies past my ships underbelly and destroys the fighter.

I look at my consoles as more warning lights come on. I try to get them to switch back on but it's no use, I'm descending towards the ground.  
"Amara pull up" I hear Poe order.  
I keep trying to get my engines to start back up but still nothing.  
"You hear me Amara? Pull up damn it"  
"I've lost power to my engines" I say finally. "Going to be a bumpy landing" I say pulling up slightly so my decent can be drawn out and less dangerous so I can hopefully survive the impact. In the snow ahead of me I notice three shapes speeding in my direction, two of them shooting at one in front.

I don't know how I know from this distance but it's Finn and Rey, I can almost feel it. I carefully glide my none powered x wing towards the speeders that are approaching fast, one gets taken out by Finn and if I time it just right I can take out the second. I focus slowly before firing, shooting the speeder chasing them before the belly of my ship starts skimming the ground towards them. I curse as we're heading straight towards each other. I pull up causing my ship to bounce over the top of  
them making a heavy landing against some rocks.

Better landing than my last one at least. I open the cockpit and stand up just as Finn and Rey climb up the wing.  
"Amara." Finn says realising it's me "Are you alright" Rey asks  
"I was about to ask you the same question" I say getting out and making sure she's unharmed. I hug her happy to see her and then hug Finn.  
"What's the plan?" I ask them wondering why they're heading towards the oscillator.  
"Han and Chewie have taken some explosives to the interior of the oscillator to try and damage it to help the pilots, we're on our way there to meet them before heading back to the Falcon" Finn explains

"Then let's get going" I say before slipping on the wing and falling onto my back and sliding onto the snow.  
"Careful that's slippery" I say as I get up.  
Rey and Finn try not to laugh at me as we make our way to the two person speeder, I perch myself on the back between the two headrests keeping an eye out for trouble.

We stop at the base of the oscillator and Finn takes his jacket off to give it to a cold looking Rey. "This way" he says running to a ladder leading all the way up. It takes us quite a while to climb all the steps but eventually we get to a door and enter the dark building lit in red lights to see Han walking towards a masked man on an un-railed walkway. I recognise him, from the nightmare.

"Take off that mask. You don't need it." Han says, his voice echoing

"What do you think you'll see if I do?" The man asks in response, his voice also echoes.

"The face of my son." Han says simply.  
His son? Ben? No... I remember Ben, we used to be friends before I never saw him again. As I got older I always wondered what happened to him. He just seemed to vanish.

After a short moment he takes his mask off and looks directly at Han with unfeeling eyes.

"Your son is gone. He was weak and foolish, like his father. So I destroyed him." Ben replies

"That's what Snoke wants you to believe but it's not true. My son is alive." Han says stepping closer

"No. The Supreme Leader is wise."

I look around noticing some storm troopers all pointing their weapons at Han, but not firing.

"Snoke is using you for your power. When he gets what he wants, he'll crush you. You know it's true."

Ben looks conflicted, as though he knows.

"It's too late." he replies

"No it's not. Leave here with me. Come home. We miss you." Han says, now directly in front of his son.

This dark figure doesn't seem to know how to take Han's confession. There's a long pause before he speaks again.

"I'm being torn apart." He says, his voice having more emotion than I can see on his face "I want to be free of this pain. I know what I have to do, but I don't know if I have the strength to do it. Will you help me?" Ben asks, his voice trembling.

"Yes. Anything." he says standing inches apart.

Ben drops his mask with a heavy metallic thunk as it falls to the walkway.

I shake my head as a feeling of distrust floods through me. I've never really trusted people, but this is more that just my lack of trust. He seems to take something off his belt and Han reaches for it. I wonder what it is as I hold onto the rail tightly.  
I would feel better if I had a blaster in hand but I have nothing. I look back as the last of the sunlight fade as the planet sized weapon is almost fully charged. We need to hurry.

I turn back to Han just as a red blade pierces through Han's chest causing all of us to gasp and jump surprised. Chewie lets out a loud wail in anguish and Rey screams as we realise what has just happened.  
"NO!" I shout looking around for something, anything that can help.  
Ben removes the blade from Han, holding it by his side still ignited.  
Han touches his son's face before his knees give out on him and he falls into the depths below.

"No..." I can't believe it, Han Solo, a man who was like a second father to me has just been murdered right in front of me and there was nothing I could do to stop it. I stare at a man who used to be my friend, who has just killed his own father.  
I hear a stormtrooper come up behind us and I turn and grab his blaster before he can fire it and I throw him over the railing

After Chewie's agonising scream he shoots Ben causing him to fall to his knees and lean forward holding his abdomen. Also causing the stormtroopers to start shooting at us. Finn and Rey start backing up as we all start shooting. A large explosion followed by five others go off all the way up the side of the oscillator shaking the entire room. The stormtroopers seem to either get caught in the explosion or start to run because of it. I stare at Ben full of hatred. He looks up at us as he gets up and makes his way back across the walkway with large strides. I don't turn and run like Rey and Finn do, I stand there glaring at him almost wanting him to come to me, The First Order are taking everything from me, no more.

"Amara!" I hear Rey shouting before being grabbed and turned around by Finn  
"Come on we've got to get out of here"  
I reluctantly follow and we head back down the way we came, it's a long descent down the ladders but once at the bottom we jump in the speeder heading for the trees.

Unable to move the speeder through the trees we get out and follow Finn. We make our way up, into the forest having to climb some parts of the ground "The Falcon is this way" Finn says leading the way.  
I look back at the blazing oscillator that has a large fracture up it's side. I stare at it for a long moment before again being called for and running after Finn and Rey through the snow covered forest with barely enough light to see by.

The sound of a Saber being ignited stops us in our tracks as a dark figure stands amidst the inky backdrop, his red blade glowing on the glistening white snow.. Ben. Blocking our path.  
"We're not done yet." He says simply

"You're a monster!" comes Rey's angry response.  
"It's just us now. Han Solo can't save you."  
He hits himself in the side where Chewie had shot him. I look to the snow as red drops catch my eye. His blood drips to the ground as he opens the wound that had cauterized on impact.

Rey raises her blaster to shoot him but shes thrown backwards into a tree, hard, she falls to the ground limp.

"Rey!" Finn shouts worried about the woman he had become quite fond of over the short amount of time they had known each other. He tosses his blaster aside and runs to check that she's okay.

"Rey! Rey! Rey... Rey... Oh no. Oh no no no... Rey" Finn says holding her in his arms.

I stand there between Ben and Rey blaster raised. He looks at me curiously.  
Despite what happened to Rey I shoot at him, he dodges it easily so I shoot again, he deflects it with his lightsaber directing it at me, I roll out of the way before feeling myself leave the floor and thrown backwards also hitting a tree. I fall into a pile of branches, cushioning my fall slightly. I look over at him as he walks towards Finn and Rey and I try to get up out of the flimsy branches as I watch him.

"TRAITOR!" he shouts moving closer to Finn and waving his saber around.  
Finn stands up as he turns and as he does he ignites a blue lightsaber. I pause as I look at it, is that the one Maz had? I wonder.

"That lightsaber. It belongs to me!" Ben says pointing with his red blade.

"Come get it." Finn says before taking a breath and charging and Ben. A fight ensues as Finn swings at Ben. I spot my blaster ahead and rush to get out from the tangle of branches. Rolling over I drop out of the branches and onto a log. I curse and look at Finn as Ben has him pinned against a tree, sabers locked. Finn cries out in pain but I cannot see why, I only hear the lightsaber sizzling with contact with pulls away to make a killing blow but Finn dodges causing Ben to cut a tree. I get off the log and scurry towards my blaster which is broken. I look back to Finn who's weapon has just gone flying into the snow. Ben punches Finn causing the defenceless man to turn away from him only to get cut up the back and fall in the snow limp.

Ben deactivates his lightsaber and reaches for the one Finn had been using.  
I hear Maz voice in my head as I remember her telling em to take the saber. But there's no way I could get to it without being attacked by Ben, he's in the middle of the lightsaber and I. After being thrown backwards into a tree I start to remember my mothers stories about the Jedi and the Sith. I thought they were just myths that parents tell their children. But they're not.

So I do the unthinkable. I believe, I hope.

I reach my hand out towards it focussing my mind on it, I don't really know what I'm doing but I can feel something. The saber teeters as if touched by an invisible entity, it bursts out of the snow and heads straight towards Ben who has to move quickly as it rockets past his head and lands in my hand. Surprise fills me as I look at it, the same surprise on Ben's face.

"You" He says as if he knows something about me that I do not.

I hold the lightsaber in both hands and ignite the blade. Fear fils me as I realise what I'm about to do. I'm about to fight a trained killer who can use the force at will and has no doubt had more hand to hand combat experience than I ever have. But I have to protect my friends. I wont let him kill them, not while I'm still breathing.

He looks back at me and ignites his lightsaber. He can no doubt sense my fears but despite the almost overwhelming sensation I charge at him. He deflects my blow with ease as he backs up dodging another swipe and blocking another. I swing heavily at him and he rushes to the side out of the way causing me to hit a tree which sparks on contact, and falls to the floor.  
He moves back towards me swiping downwards, I block high and again from below. I jab at him as he leaves himself wide open but he swings his saber and deflects it using the motion to swing his blade around his head and swing at me. I duck and rush away from him causing him to cut down a tree. As I turn we both swing at each other but miss being too far apart.  
He closes the gap quickly with fast powerful strikes which I just manage to block.

There's a large boom nearby and the ground shakes a little but we continue fighting. He keeps his powerful strikes coming causing me to back up through a narrow rock formation. He unbalances himself with a powerful strike that I do not block. I turn around and rush up onto higher ground. I jump over the gap avoiding his swings and pass under a fallen tree. I turn and cut through the tree as Ben is right behind me causing him to pause as I turn and run again. I look back and face him, starting to tire out but not about to quit. For the looks of things he is tiresome too. I go for an over head attack which he blocks and pushes me away as I back up. I block a powerful overhead swing from him causing me to almost loose my footing getting up just in time to block another attack. I turn as I hear the ground breaking up behind me and look back to Ben. As I keep walking backwards quickly, blocking several more strikes. I feel the ground behind me fall again and I stop as I block an attack. I lean backwards as he applies a lot of pressure on the blades but I push back the blades sparking at the slightest movement. I look down into the large cliff what was moments ago flat ground.

"You need a teacher!" He says matter of factly. I look at him wondering what he's talking about.

"I can show you the ways of the Force!" He adds.

"The Force..." I say realising. I remember what Maz said. I close my eyes and search for it, I feel it, the light calling to me, I feel it calm my senses making them more attuned to everything. I open my eyes to see Ben awaiting an answer.  
He killed his own father, there's nothing he could teach me, I need to find Luke. Realising this I move to the side and behind Ben. He turns swiping at me but I knew what he was going to do before he did it. I move forward with powerful swings, he moves to the side, this time he is the one who is backing up while I swing powerful attacks. He blocks them with fast reflexes but then he gets unbalanced and so is unable to block my attack which hits his leg causing him to fall to his knees. I stop and ook at him, he stands up and swings wildly which I dodge easily and jab at him, contacting his shoulder. He stumbles backwards several steps in the snow and I walk towards him. I swing a powerful overhead attack which he barely blocks staggering him. I bring my leg up and kick him in the chest, his lack of balance makes him fall into the snow. I circle around him as he gets back up and attacks, I block it and grab his arm but he also grabs mine in a firm grip. As he tries to move his wrist to attack me I realise he's not going to stop so I force his arm away and down into the snow causing it to erupt on contact as I try to free my wrist from his grip. I manage to get my arm free and in one swift motion  
I break his saber and in my adrenaline fuelled state I swipe up at him, cutting his shoulder and face with the blue blade.

I step forward, but I pause and take a breath. I could kill him but I'm better than that, I'm not a murderer who kills an unarmed man. I hear something in the back of my head which I can't quite make out. I want to kill him but I shake my head. It may come back to haunt me but I step back away from him. The planet shakes and where my foot was a moment earlier the ground begins to split, I move backwards away from the growing chasm.  
I deactivate the lightsaber and put it in my pocket before turning and running towards Finn who is being watched over by a now conscious Rey who is crying in worry for her friend.  
I race to their side, falling to my knees and check for a pulse. Finn, lies, near death, his wound cauterized but serious.  
"Is he okay?" she asks  
"We've got to get him out of here. He's got a pulse, but barely" I explain looking around not sure where the Millenium Falcon would be, Finn said it was this way, but where, if it's not been swallowed by the crumbling planet. Trees fall as the lanet continues to implode. I stand up looking around for any sign of it starting to worry about my friends lives, and my own, even more now the matter is no longer in my hands, if we do not get off this planet, we're dead. But then, just as all hope seems lost lights shine through the trees, I look to the source The Falcon. Chewie at the controls.

The Wookie lands the ship comes over to up picking Finn up and rushing him aboard. I make sure they got on first and I take one last look around before boarding and head to the cockpit, Rey is looking after Finn and I copilot for Chewie. We take off just as the ground below us falls away and we head away from the planet.

X wings join us in our flight back to base I look out the window to see Poe's black fighter and the remaining pilots glad to see someone has made it out of this in one piece.

Once we're almost back to base I put on a headset and contact them.  
"Reading you Falcon" an officer replies.  
"Get a medical team ready, we've got a severely injured passenger"  
"Roger Falcon, we'll have a team meet you when you land"

We drop out of light speed and Chewie puts us on approach before he moans to me to take the controls as he gets up to go and see to Finn. I gently take us in for a landing among the remaining resistance ships dropping the ramp and switching thrusters off as I do. I get up as Chewie carries the unconscious Finn down the ramp.

Medical Personnel meet them and Chewie gently puts Finn on the medical vehicle.  
"Easy, easy."  
"We've got a heartbeat" I hear a medic say as I stand at the top of the ramp staying inside the ship. I close my eyes and sigh I hope he'll pull through.

I walk back into the cockpit and look at Han's chair as I remember what happened. I blink and see the memory etched into my eyes.

"Amara" I hear a soft, caring voice from behind. I turn to see Leia.  
I look at her apologetically. She wears a knowing expression as she walks towards me.  
"General... Han..." I start...  
"I know" she says quietly  
"...I'm sorry..." I say feeling my regret eating away at me, wishing there was something I could have done to save him. She hugs me tightly and I hug back sharing each other's pain. I've lost a mother and two fathers in one day.


	9. Chapter 9

Leia and I walk out of The Falcon and we're met by Poe who walk over to me fast and hugs me tightly.

"I thought you were dead. I hope you're not going to make a habit of scaring me like that" he says sounding a little angry

The general smiles softly and keeps walking, heading towards the command centre.

"I'm sorry, I lost power to my engines" I explain pulling away slightly and looking at him.

"I know, your ship was on fire at the back and you were going down fast. I-" I kiss him softly to stop his worried babbling.

"I'm okay" I say pulling away and putting on a smile.

He hugs me again tightly and I hug back not wanting to let him go. I'm not okay, not even slightly.

An officer comes to find us to inform us we're needed in the command centre.

Outside people celebrate the victory, but to me, and no doubt others, it doesn't feel like much of one but I'm not one to rain on a parade. Leia, Poe and selected officers and personnel are gathered discussing the map. I sit in a chair in the far side of the command centre feeling drained of all energy and emotion.

"Kylo Ren said that the map held by BB8 is the last piece of the puzzle" Poe says to all present. "If it's only a piece, where is the rest of it?" He asks looking around.

"The First Order has it" Rey says "when I was being interrogated he explained what he wanted, I think he expected me to simply tell him if he was polite enough"

"How did they manage to find it?" one of the officers ask.

When no one seems to know or have any guesses I stand up.

"They must have recovered it from the Imperial archives" I say walking towards the group. "Must also be where they got the plans for the Death Star before modifying it into Starkiller Base" I add.

"The Empire?" Poe asks almost disbelieving.

"It makes sense, They would have been looking for the Jedi, they would have no doubt gathered a great deal of information from the temples and sanctuaries they destroyed" Admiral Statura says nodding in agreement.

"We need Luke, we need that map. Now more than ever" I say knowing what must be done, it's been on my mind since the fight with Ben, if I am attuned to the force I do need a teacher. The only one who can do that can only be found through this map. I look over at Poe who looks concerned. I've never really believed that searching for a ghost is a good idea. So he must know something has changed my mind, whether he knows what it is, is a different matter.

"We're still at war with The First Order, it won't end until either us or them are destroyed. Without Luke, we do not stand a chance." Leia agrees.

Again silence fills the room which is broken by a dusty old blue and white droid rolling into the middle of the room. A droid I have seen before, in the nightmare at Maz' castle when I touched the Lightsaber. Which is also where I first saw Ben, but as I now know him as: Kylo Ren. This can't be coincidental.

The astromech lets out a long whistle before projecting a large star map with a section missing.

BB8 beeps wildly and Poe crouches to him to listen.

"Yeah, all right, buddy, hold on" Poe says before moving to a console and ejecting something. He moves back to BB8 inserting whatever it is into a port on the spherical body of the droid who beeps a little before projecting it and resizing it to fit it into the other droid's map. This is also something I have seen before. The complete star map with the path to Luke. Also from the nightmare. I remember the young girl on the ship looking up at this map, this exact map.

"It's a match" I say in surprise. Where a moment ago I was drained, now I feel hopeful.

"Luke" Leia says with heartfelt emotion. I turn and hug her as cheers and spontaneous embraces filled the room with so much joy that no one paid any attention to who was hugging what representative of whichever species and even ignoring rank.

I step back and look at her

"I have to go to him" I say simply. But she seems to understand and acknowledges with a nod.

"But first, you rest, you can leave in the morning" she says softly.

After being dismissed from the conference room I go to see Finn in an Intensive Care Unit in a medically educed coma with his life still in the balance I find Rey sitting by his bedside leaning on the side on her arms.

"Hey, how is he?" I ask softly placing my hand on her shoulder

"The doctors say he's going to be okay" she replies, But nothing can be certain until he fully recovers, we all know that.

"How are _you_?" I ask sitting next to her. She looks quite tired and sits up in the chair.

"As you can probably imagine" she says still looking at Finn "Worried... Mostly. But other than that... I'm not sure" she says sounding a little confused.

"Oh?" I say giving her an option to explain if she wishes.

"When I was taken to Starkiller Base... Kylo Ren... tried to get inside my head, it was painful" she looks at me "at first, but just as I felt him inside my mind, I also felt another presence, it was kind where he was so full of hate, but I also felt conflict in him and the pain stopped I was no longer in my own head. I was there, but I wasn't, it was as if I was watching through my own eyes as someone else was in my body, I couldn't move or speak even though I was speaking and then the next thing I know I was free" she explains.

I look at her confused but also remembering when I was in the command centre and my mind went to Rey and it felt as though I was elsewhere too, and then I felt pain and I was looking through her eyes and speaking with her voice, did I transfer my mind into hers and take the pain? I thought that was a dream. Nothing is making sense anymore.

"That was you, wasn't it?" She asks noticing my confused expression. I stay silent, uncertain. She nods as if knowing more than I do.

"I was inside your mind" she says softly "You took the pain, stopped him from getting into my head, I know that you did, I could feel the pressure and I know I should have been in agony, but I felt... You. Your unwavering compassion and loyalty. Your bravery and fearlessness of dying while protecting your friends" she says sounding almost in awe.

"You make me sound like someone out of a legend, I'm only doing what I feel is right" I say feeling humbled "there are people far braver than I, I wouldn't even consider myself brave. Foolish maybe" I add causing both of us to smile.

"You fought Kylo Ren" she says

"Like I said, foolish" I jest

"You saved our lives" she adds.

I don't know what to say. I look at Finn. I was too slow to stop him from getting hurt. I can't let that happen again. I need to be ready, I know I'll meet Ren again and next time he will be more powerful, but I chose not to kill him even though I knew it would be easier if I did. But when I looked at him... All I saw the young boy who I used to know.

"That wasn't your fault" she says seeming to know what I was thinking.

I nod, but I don't believe it, I feel responsible.

"You should get some rest" I say softly.

She shakes her head.

"I want to stay with him a while longer" she says looking back to Finn. I nod as I stand up.

"Okay, but you need to rest, he'll be just fine" I say reassuringly.

She looks at me and smiles "thank you" she says "for saving our lives"

I smile and nod "that's what you do for friends"

She smiles full of emotion and her eyes fill.

"Come here" I say softly moving to hug her. She stands up and hugs me.

"Take care of yourself" she says knowing I have to leave.

I nod and step back.

"I'll come back" I promise.

I've become fond of these two misfits, after all we've been through together how could we not be close?

The scavenger, the Stormtrooper and the Pilot. We're a right motley crew.

* * *

I think I am going to leave this here for now until we find out what's going on in The next film. I will be going back and editing this story a bit so please leave a comment and let me know what you think. I'd love some creative criticism, or just comments letting me know if you like it or not.


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